Slide Override: Sliders Season 6
by Knuckles-lm
Summary: Continuing from last season's 'The Seer', Slide Override chronicles the events of the Sliders after Rembrandt slides alone to Earth Prime to save his world.
1. Viral Agent. Part I

Episode 1: "Viral Agent." Part I.

Rembrandt stared at the fierce swirling red vortex. It shimmered, howling like a tornado, as the wind blew towards him. A shimmer of distortion surrounded the area immediately around it, but this area was shortening, as the power of the vortex was beginning to fade. At that moment in time he turned to his companions: Maggie, Diana, and Mallory. There was only enough power to send one of them through the vortex, and perhaps his only chance of ever returning home. But the Seer's words echoed in his mind. If they ventured through this gateway … it could be their last.

As he looked around at his friend's faces he could already feel the wind lessening. It was now or never, one of them had to decide, one of them had to slide. As his gaze wandered he saw the case with the virus on the desk, a syringe right beside it. And in that moment he had decided, he had to do this. Before the others could stop him Rembrandt reached forward and injected the virus into his arm. 

"Remmy?!" Shouted Maggie.

It was too late. The virus was now coursing through his veins. He noticed the looks of his friends, they did not like this, but they also knew that it was the only way. "I have to save my world."

Maggie shook her head. "Have you forgotten what the Seer said. He said that this slide would be our last!"

"You don't know what you are going to slide into." Added Mallory.

Diana was still processing what he had done. "You might not even make it. The exotic matter of the vortex is already collapsing…" She was cut off as Rembrandt stepped forward and pulled her in close for a hug. "Remmy…"

"I … I don't want to lose you." Tears began to well up in Maggie's eyes. She held onto him tightly, not wanting to let go.

Sighing Mallory reached out his hand and they shaked. "Be careful…"

He took one final look at his friends and then rushed towards the vortex, a flash of light emitting as his body entered the gateway. As soon as he had gotten through the vortex it began to fade in and out of sight, and with a final flash and howl it disappeared. Maggie, Diana, and Mallory stood close to each other, the fate of their friend unknown, as they continued to watch the area where the vortex had been.

"So what do we do now?"

As Rembrandt entered the vortex he was jerked forward as his body was pushed and pulled along the tunnel. He was tossed around as the falling sensation continued, gasping as he witnessed the events behind him. A few meters behind he saw the sides of the vortex unravelling, like the layers of an onion, a void of darkness right behind.

Panic rushed through his emotions. Could this be what the Seer had predicted? What if the tunnel collapsed before he had made it to the other side? Before he could ponder these questions a bright light shone from up ahead, the exit. Practically willing himself forward, dark and light ends met together, and the vortex collapsed with a loud bang…

What if you found a portal to a parallel universe?

What if you could slide into a thousand different worlds?

Where it's the same year

And you're the same person

But everything else is different

And what if you can't find your way home…

Starring: Cleavent Derricks as Rembrandt Brown

Kari Wuhrer as Maggie Beckett

Robert Floyd as Mallory

And Tembi Locke as Diana Davis

… Sliders!

Rembrandt groaned in pain. He felt as if his entire body had been torn apart from both sides and he could not open his eyes. Despite the situation he found himself laughing, just happy to have survived the slide. He eventually tried to move his arms and found them more responsive but sight was still unachievable. The last flash of light that had dispersed the vortex must have temporarily blinded him. He could not even open them because of the stinging pain. Deciding that it was better not to move for now he waited until his sight returned.

Lying on the floor without his sight, his other sense took over, and he tried to see if he could make out any sounds. A few cries and gunshots sounded from far away but nothing was clear, and he was not able to make out the words. Finally giving up he was left to go over his thoughts. Was this home? Had the co-ordinates been correct and this was indeed Earth Prime? And if so was the Resistance still strong? Reaching up to rub his aching head thoughts returned of the last time he was here…

2 years ago…

"Go!" Quinn turned to his two closest friends. "Remmy, Wade go! The portal will take you guys back home!"

Rembrandt turned to the swirling pink vortex that glowed slightly above the ground on the cliff edge. This was the chance that they had all been waiting for, the chance to finally return home. It had been their goal, their one reason to continue on for all these years. As he turned his gaze to Wade he knew what she was thinking, because he was thinking it too.

"We can't leave you, Q-ball."

"Go on, Quinn. I can't survive on your world." Maggie looked into her hand and at the other timer. 

"No way Maggie! I'm not leaving you here! I'll find a way to let you breathe our atmosphere." Quinn turned to them. "Guys go! We'll follow!"

They hesitated for several moments longer and then turned as Rickman and the hybrids ran forward. Another minute longer and then hand in hand Rembrandt and Wade jumped into the howling vortex, its power sucking them in. As they flew through the gateway between universes they just hoped that Maggie and Quinn were following right behind by using the vortex from the other timer.

The bright light that shone up ahead heralded the end of the tunnel and with a flash of light Rembrandt was thrown clear out from it, landing roughly on the ground. Wade was not far behind and she landed on top of him. With a final flash and a howl, the vortex closed, and the wind died down.

Hesitation gripped them once more. Not wanting to look up, not wanting to face what would happen if they were wrong, if this were not their home. It was Wade who finally looked up first and she let out a scream, her body starting to tremble. Rembrandt stood up and quickly went over, putting his arms around her, as she sobbed.

"No…" The tears slid down the sides of her cheek. "No…"

Rembrandt looked around. The layout of buildings and names were exactly like he remembered them. But there were major factors that shattered their reality: buildings were on fire, blast marks scorched the ground, and people ran for their lives as they looked up to the sky. And there, slicing through the clouds, was a Kromagg manta ship.

"This can't be home!" Wade cried out. "It just can't be!"

Rembrandt fell silent, knowing that any words of comfort would fall flat. Knowing that he could not contradict her words because he knew it had to be, this was their world. Their world that was being invaded by the Kromaggs. "Wade, come on, we've got to get out of sight." He tried to pick her up.

Something suddenly flashed across her mind and she turned to look behind her. "Quinn! … Maggie?" She wriggled out of his grasp. "We've got to wait for them."

"Girl there's no time!" Rembrandt grabbed hold of her arm and dragged her from the streets as the manta ship descended and began firing off a laser that ripped through the ground in a dazzling explosion.

Rembrandt led her through the streets, ducking into side alleys whenever he could, to lose themselves from the battle. Wade stumbled along as she was dragged forward, the wind blowing her tears away, her mind numbed. Looking up she spotted a group of people who were standing over a manhole. A young man, with light brown skin, a clean-shaven head and face, saw them approach.

"Who are you?" He lifted up a rifle.

"Woah… my name is Rembrandt Brown and she's Wade Welles." Remmy scanned their faces. "What's happening?"

The guy lowered his rifle and gave the two a weird look. "Where have you been?! We're in the middle of some kind of invasion!" He turned to the others who were descending down the manhole and then looked up. "Welcome to the Resistance…" He motioned towards it and Rembrandt and Wade followed them down into the sewers…

Present Day…

Watching her friend go was the hardest thing that she ever had to do. She had almost lost him when he wanted to stay and protect Wade but this time he was truly gone. She quickly wiped the tears from her eyes as she realised that they were on their own now. She had to take charge and fast.

"Do you know anywhere safe that we can go?" Maggie turned to Mrs Mallory.

"Well I – I know of an abandoned church not far from here."

"A church?" Inquired Diana. 

"After the religion of Slidology took off here the old beliefs were forgotten and left to die out. So there was no need for the churches."

"Ok then. Diana quickly look around and grab anything that you think looks useful, Mallory take Mrs Mallory and start heading out, we'll catch up with you in a moment."

He nodded and turned to her, helping her run out of the room.

"Diana!" Maggie shouted.

"Ok, ok." Diana quickly scanned and picked up any useful pieces of equipment and all the pieces of paper that she could get her hands on. Looking up she saw Maggie's worried expression so picked up the pace and then ran towards her. "Ok, that's it."

The two rushed down the corridor and then emerged outside. They caught a glimpse of Mallory waving to them from a side alley and so headed in that direction. Once reunited the team kept running at a good pace. Heading towards the abandoned church. It was not long before they spotted the large golden cross from off in the distance and soon reached the front door.

The Chapel of Our Sister Mary looked run down and was boarded up. Maggie and Mallory took a few steps back and together they managed to kick the door open. They quickly shuffled in and then closed the door shut. Not a word was said for a long time as they struggled to regain their breath.

"Do you think he made it?" Mallory broke the silence.

"He had to of." Maggie said with confidence. "I don't want to think otherwise." She saw Diana beginning to sort through the equipment that she had salvaged. "Do you think we could rebuild the timer?"

"I'm not sure. I'm just not sure…" 

Rembrandt was brought out of his reverie into the past as a loud shout sounded several feet from his location. As he turned his head he could make out voices and the sound of gunfire. He tried to open up his eyes and found that he could just about see but there was still a haze that covered his vision. Up ahead five humans were firing at a group of Kromaggs who were right on their tail. Remmy looked around, finally seeing the place where he had landed, he was in a large warehouse. The humans closed the shutters and proceeded to run across to the back exit.

"Hold up!" One of the men signalled to the others. "There's someone here, he looks hurt." The man jogged over to him. "Are you ok?"

Rembrandt shook his head. "I think so. My vision isn't all that good though."

"Come on." The guy placed Rembrandt's arm around his shoulder and helped him along. 

Another of the fighters rushed up, and went to Remmy's other side, together they soon rejoined up with the others. As they reached the back exit to the warehouse the front shutters were blasted open by an energy weapon and the Kromaggs entered. 

"Fire!" Shouted the Commander.

The red beams from the Magg's weapons roared through the air. Some of the fighters turned to fire back, one being caught in the chest, falling to the floor in a pool of blood. Firing a few more shots the last of the fighters rushed through the exit and they fled from the scene.

"We're never gonna out run them." One of them said, gasping for breath.

"Then we're just going to have to slow them down." The one to the right of Rembrandt let go of his arm and reached into his backpack. He retrieved a strange circular device and then pressed a series of buttons. It began to flash red.

"What is that?" Asked Rembrandt.

"A small paralysing device. We acquired it on one of our raids on the Magg's storage facility to the west of the city." He turned and started to roll it down the streets. "Everyone clear!" 

They all ducked into a side alley as the first of the Kromaggs appeared on the street. There was a loud bang and then a blinding flash of light. "Takes care of them for a while."

It was not long before the fighters came to a deserted street. They ran towards the third house on the right and then down into the basement. Rembrandt began to smile as he realised where he was. "Resistance HQ … You guys are part of the resistance?" They nodded their heads. 

They all turned as a side door opened and a light brown skinned guy walked into the room. "No it can't be…"

"Calen?…" Said Rembrandt, squinting slightly.

"Remmy!" The two old friends hugged. "I can't believe it is you…" He took a step back. "It is you, right?" Rembrandt nodded his head. "What happened to you? How did you survive? The Kromaggs had taken you and Wade away…"

He shook his head. "It's a long story. We were taken to one of their facilities and held in a cage. Eventually Wade was shipped off to a breeding camp and I was left all alone. But Quinn and Maggie saved me. We found out that he isn't from this world, that he has a brother, and then Quinn gets merged with his duplicate on another world…" Remmy sighed. "Not to mention a whole load of other things. Like I said, it's a long story."

Calen nodded. "Well we've got plenty of time. Come on in and sit down. We've got a lot to talk about."

"But more importantly than all that right now…" Everyone turned to him. "I carry in my bloodstream a virus that will wipe out the Kromaggs once and for all!"

To Be Continued…


	2. Viral Agent. Part II

Episode 2: "Viral Agent" Part II.

Maggie stayed completely still, hidden in the dark shadows of the alleyway, as she watched the figures slowly walk by. They looked from left to right, trying to find what they were looking for, trying to find the location of the Sliders. She waited until their voices trailed off into the distance and then carefully looking ahead she continued her run back to the abandoned church. She tightened her grip on the bag that she carried and picked up the pace. It was not long before she made it back. She squeezed herself into the half open door and then turned to help close it shut.

"You ok?" Asked Mallory.

Maggie nodded her head. "I managed to slip past their patrols without incident but more are more are joining the search." She turned to the others. "We can't stay here forever. Sooner or later they are going to find us."

"So what did you get?"

Maggie led Mallory to the front of the church and emptied the contents of the bag onto the altar. Diana looked up from her work and went over. She ignored the food and pushing them to one side concentrated on the electrical equipment. She finally picked up a few pieces of electronics and then went back to work. 

Maggie saw her focused but worried expression. "How's Diana been?"

"She's been working hard…"

"But?"

Mallory shook his head. "She's given up a couple of times. I know that she can do this, she's smart. But she doubts herself, doesn't think that she will be able to get us out of here…" Sighing he went over and started talking to Mrs Mallory.

Maggie continued to watch Diana as her expression turned from being focused to worry to frustration. "I can't do this." She tossed the equipment to one side. "I just can't do this." 

"Come on Diana." Maggie urged her. "You can do this."

"I've never had to build a timer from scratch before!" She shook her head. "And even if I could, this equipment is too unsuitable."

"Just tell me what you need and I'll find it." 

Diana closed her eyes for a moment and then looked up. "Sorry. I … I just need a break I guess."

Maggie placed her hand around her shoulders. "We all believe in you Diana. You can do this. We'll get what you need and together we will get out of this place … and find Remmy."

They all turned as a loud shout suddenly sounded from outside and the door was banged hard against. The group got up to make a run for it but a few seconds later the door gave away. It opened up wide to reveal Claire, grinning seductively, followed by her guards that quickly surrounded them. They were trapped.

What if you found a portal to a parallel universe?

What if you could slide into a thousand different worlds?

Where it's the same year

And you're the same person

But everything else is different

And what if you can't find your way home…

Starring: Cleavent Derricks as Rembrandt Brown

Kari Wuhrer as Maggie Beckett

Robert Floyd as Mallory

And Tembi Locke as Diana Davis

… Sliders!

Rembrandt watched the different expressions that passed through many people's faces as they all waited in silence and hope as the needle was inserted into his arm. He flinched slightly as the blood was drawn out of him and then the needlepoint was pulled out from under his skin. The Resistance Member went over to his equipment and squirted a small amount of the blood onto a slide. He placed the slide under his microscope and looked in.

Calen emerged from out of a side room and brought with him another slide. "How's it looking Reg?"

"There is definitely an anomaly in the composition of his bloodstream." He looked up and placed in the other slide. "Now, let's just hope that this works."

"What is on the other slide?" Asked Rembrandt.

"Kromagg blood." Reg turned and looked into the scope. He slowly sucked up the blood off Rembrandt's slide and added it to the Kromaggs. "… Uh … amazing!"

"What is it?" Asked Calen in hope.

"Take a look for yourself."

Calen stepped up and peered into the microscope. He gasped in awe as he witnessed Rembrandt's blood cells attack the Kromagg's until only Remmy's remained. He looked up and turned to the group. "This is what we have been waiting for! The way to finally defeat the Kromaggs!"

A loud cheer rang through the group.

Rembrandt smiled. "How fast can you synthesise this virus?"

"Well from the looks of things." Said Reg. "It is very fast acting. The transition from liquid to gas state would take no time at all. We could make this thing airborne. From then on it should absorb itself into the atmosphere permanently. I'll need to study it for proper analysis but I theorise that it could take a week to circulate around the entire planet."

Calen patted Remmy on the shoulder. "Thank you…"

"It wasn't me. You'd need to thank those you created the virus on another earth." His thoughts suddenly returned to his friends. In the back of his mind he knew that they were ok. He just hoped that they stayed that way.

"Either way you brought it here and we're thankful!" He turned. "Well what are you all waiting for? We've got a virus to synthesise!"

"She's never going to let us go."

Maggie paced up and down the room that they were locked in. It was big, luxurious, and had everything they wanted … because they would not be leaving any time soon. Outside the shouts and screams of fans was almost deafening. They waved banners and screamed at even a glimpse of the Sliders in the window. Their faith would keep them there all through the rest of the day … and even through the night.

"This is ridiculous!" Maggie was beginning to get impatient. "She is just going to keep us locked in here forever?! She must know that we are not going to co-operate in her plan in any way!"

Diana and Mrs Mallory were sitting down on the couch, resting. Mallory was trying to pick the lock of the door with some tools found in the room but was not getting any luck. 

"Calm down Maggie." He said smiling. "At least we have all the food and stuff we want."

She gave him a look. "Of course, she can't exactly starve the most important people on the planet!"

Mallory suddenly stood up. "That gives me an idea." He went over to the window and the screams increased. "What if we got one of them to help us? I'm sure they would do anything to please us, they think we are like Gods. We could tell them everything about Claire holding us against our will!"

Maggie smiled. "It could work." She turned to the table and began writing down a message onto a piece of paper. She passed the note to Mallory and he slipped it out of the small gap that the window would only open to. 

They watched as the message slowly floated down to the ground. A little girl picked up the message and looked at it. They saw the gasp that she made as she passed it to her mother, the mother passed it on to the crowd, and it quickly circulated. Soon a new chant sounded out: "Free the Sliders! Free the Sliders!"

Hearing the new commotion that was outside Claire came out of the building flanked with two of her guards. "What is the meaning of this? The Sliders are free, they are happy to stay here for a very long time…"

"They are being held against their will!" A middle aged man shouted out.

"You are keeping them from the right path!" Another continued.

"Please, I assure you…" Claire started, but it was too late, the crowd began to push back the barriers and advanced to the building. Additional security quickly arrived from the building but there was no holding back the crowd, they quickly broke through.

"Yes!" Maggie and Mallory high-fived.

It was not long before footsteps drifted up from the corridor outside and the sound of a key was fitted into the lock. The door swung open to reveal several men and women.

Mallory put on a mock serious tone. "We will never forget this." Holding onto the shoulders of a pretty woman he gave her a kiss to her cheek. Maggie rolled her eyes in her head and pushed him along as the woman screamed and almost fainted with happiness. Diana and Mrs Mallory quickly followed right behind.

The group made it to the front atrium and watched as Claire was still struggling with the crowd. They turned to slip out of the back entrance. A group of their rescuers led them down a side alley until they were out of sight.

"Thank you." Maggie said to them.

"What now?" Asked Mallory. "We still need to rebuild the timer."

"We can do better than that." They turned to a man. "Claire still holds a lot of Kromagg technology kept from the war…"

"Like the device that capped the wormhole…" Inquired Diana.

He nodded. "There is still a chance that she has a Kromagg sliding device locked up."

"Then lead on."

Rembrandt stared out of the mist-covered window, silently watching the rain fall outside. It had been three days since he had arrived back on his world and the Resistance HQ had been teaming with activity. Work on synthesising the virus was being done 24 hours a day and they almost had enough to start heating up into the atmosphere.

At times like this when he was all alone his thoughts returned to his friends. He missed them a lot. And even though he was home it just did not feel that way anymore, not without them. Thoughts also turned to the friends that were lost. Quinn, Wade, Colin … they just had to be a way of getting them back. He would not be able to be at peace with himself until they were. 

"I can't believe we have had to wait this long." Moaned Mallory.

"They needed the time to get the access codes to the lab." Diana replied. "Word of what Claire has done has spread. Even some of her own agents have turned on her."  
"Which is better for us." Smiled Maggie. "Look, he's here, let's go."

Maggie, Mallory, Diana, and Mrs Mallory made their way over to one of the guards from the lab who was on their side and together they made their way over to the back entrance. The guard inputted a set of codes and the door opened. They walked down the long corridor.

"What about the alarms?" Asked Mallory.

"They've been disabled." Said the guard. "Follow me."

They made their way down many corridors, taking lefts and rights, until they finally reached a door with Claire's name on it. The guard took out a key from his pocket and unlocked the door. They went through. The room looked like an ordinary office, there was a desk in the corner with a computer on it, a bookcase lined the wall, and another door was on the other wall. He went over to the side door, which was large and silver, and then picked up his cell phone.

After speaking to the other person on the end of the line he inputted the code that was relayed to him. The lock released and the door opened wide. The group quickly went inside and looked around. The lab was small but wide. Computers lined the wall and several objects were in glass containers in the centre of the room. 

Mallory spotted something and went over to a table. He picked it up and studied the strange material in his hands. "It's part of a Kromagg glider."

"I found it!" Called Diana. 

The group rushed over to her and saw the container with the trans-dimensional facilitator inside of it. Mallory passed the Kromagg piece to Maggie and she used it to shatter the glass that it was contained in. She reached in and then passed it over to Diana. "Think you can make it work?"

Diana sat down at the table and began to study it for a moment. The device was small and a silver colour, there was an LCD display at the top of the timer with a keypad directly underneath it, and four grooves were on the left side of it, allowing easier grip with fingers. Diana pressed what looked like the power button and it flashed into life.

"She has notes." They turned to Mrs Mallory who had been looking through some files. "On the timer. She had worked out what most of the controls and symbols does." 

"Does it have a tracking device?" Asked Maggie.

Diana looked over the notes then smiled. "It does! We should be able to pick up the photon trail of the vortex Rembrandt went through and follow him." Using the notes and her own experience as a guide, she pressed a few of the buttons on the timer. "It's locked onto it. We can slide at any time now."

"Breaking and entering is a very serious crime…" They turned to see Claire stride into the office angrily with two armed officers.

"Put your hands upon your heads." One of the officers demanded, raising a handgun.

The Sliders stopped in their tracks, unsure of what to do now. Suddenly Mrs Mallory ran forward and knocked into one of the officers, causing Claire and the other officer to fall down with her. "Go!" She shouted. 

"I'm not leaving you here!" Mallory countered.

Diana pressed a button and a stream of energy flowed out from the timer and at the area of space directly in front of it. The vortex slowly formed into a large circle, a silvery blue colour, creating a wind which blew the pieces of paper around the room. Diana turned to the others and seeing the nod from Maggie she jumped in, a flash of light signalling her entry into the vortex.

Mallory turned. "Mum…"

"I love you, Quinn. Both of you…"

Maggie placed her hand onto his shoulder and then together they turned and jumped into the howling vortex in a flash of light. By the time that Claire and the officers had got up the vortex was beginning to close and with a final howl the wind died down as it disappeared.

Diana stood on the other end of the vortex and waited for her friends to appear. She looked around her and at the deserted streets, the war that was taking place here obvious. A flash of light emitted and she turned to see Maggie and Mallory fall out from the vortex together. They hit the cold hard ground with a groan and the vortex slowly closed. Diana went over and helped her friends up.

"Are we? …" Maggie turned to her.

Diana nodded. "We followed the photon trail. This is the Earth that Rembrandt slid into."

Maggie went to comfort Mallory. "It's better this way. And they wouldn't dare harm her. She'll be ok."

Mallory nodded. He got up from off of the floor and looked around. "So, how are we going to find Remmy?"

"Well, ruling out the prospect that the Kromaggs have got him, I just about remember the Resistance HQ from the last time that Quinn and I … when we were here."

He nodded. "We should check there then."

The three of them quickly left the street that they were in and once again stuck to the dark shadows and side alleys. The longer they travelled the better Maggie's memory improved and her steps became more confident. It was almost an hour later when they arrived at another deserted street with a row of houses on them.

"This is it." Maggie pointed to the third house on the left. 

They approached the old and worn Victorian style home and entered it.

Calen and Rembrandt looked up as they heard footsteps from upstairs. "Someone's here…"

"Could be Maggs." Calen turned to his team and they quickly gathered up their weapons and aimed it at the door that led down into the basement. The tension grew until it almost became unbearable. The door opened and three figures appeared.

"Don't move!" 

"Woah! Hold on, we're human!" Maggie shouted, putting her hands up into the air.

Rembrandt smiled. "I know that voice anywhere! Maggie!"

"Remmy!" Maggie ran down the stairs, ignoring the guns, and the two grabbed each other into a tight hug.

"Girl I missed you."

"Same here."

"Don't leave us out." Laughed Mallory.

"Mallory, Diana…" Rembrandt went over and hugged the two. "But how did you?"

Diana held up the new timer. "A gift from the Kromaggs." She turned serious. "The virus?"

He smiled. "We have just finished synthesising the last batch. The Kromaggs will be cleared from my world in a week." The group smiled and laughed, happy to be together again. "Is it? …" He looked to the timer.

"We're not on a countdown. We can leave whenever we want."

Rembrandt turned as Calen spoke. "Thank you, Remmy. You've brought hope to our world. Soon we will be clear of the Maggs and will have to start the task of building our world back to what it was. And though I know you want to stay and help you've got people who need you." He turned to Maggie, Mallory, and Diana. "And you need to bring this same hope to other infested worlds."

Remmy smiled and nodded. He walked up and shaked hands with Calen. Mallory then stepped forward. "So where to now?"

"To find a way to bring this virus to all Kromagg infested worlds, to find a way to separate our two Quinns, to search for the answers of what has happened to Wade, and if we will ever see Colin again." Rembrandt turned. "We still have a lot to do." 

Diana smiled and then browsed through the co-ordinates that were stored in the timer. She then activated the gateway and the vortex opened. "Sounds good to me."

"Me too." With that Mallory was the first to jump into the swirling vortex in a flash of light. Diana followed right behind.

"Think we can do it?" Smiled Maggie.

"We will." Rembrandt answered. Hand in hand the two jumped into the vortex and the wind slowly died down. "We will…" The vortex closed.

End.


	3. Nuclear Meltdown

Episode 3: "Nuclear Meltdown."

Diana picked up the hot cup of coffee from the desk and took a sip. The dark brown liquid trickled down her throat and warmed her up inside. As she placed the cup down she turned her attention back to the computer screen that was flashing at her. A thin wire led from the computer and to the timer that was resting beside it. Several pieces of paper, the notes from Claire's lab, covered the rest of the desk along with her drink and some tools.

She let out a small yawn and stretched her arms. The blinds of the nearby window were open, revealing the dazzling stars that shone in the night sky, and only a few clouds interrupted the view. She let her gaze wander and continued to look around the suite. Rembrandt and Mallory were sitting on the couch watching a movie on the television set while she could see the steam slip from underneath the bathroom door, indicating Maggie having a hot bath.

As she finished the coffee a beeping sound came from the computer signalling the end of the download. On the last world that they had slid into she had discovered that the Kromagg timer had more than just co-ordinates stored into it, it also held some information. That Earth did not have the necessary equipment needed to download the stored information so they waited until they arrived here to find out what was stored.

"Guys." Diana called. "The download has been completed."

"Great." Said Mallory, getting up. "Now we can find out what was stored on it."

Rembrandt joined the others by the computer screen and looked on as Diana typed in a few keystrokes. It was not long before the screen changed and lots of strange images and text appeared. "That writing, it looks like the Kromagg language."

Diana nodded. She continued to wait until the computer processed the pictures and made them clearer. "They … they are images of other Earths." A dark red symbol appeared next to some of the images, while others were noted with a blue.

"Worlds conquered by the Kromaggs?" Suggested Mallory. "Then that would mean that the blue are ones that have just been scouted out." 

"Could be." Said Rembrandt. "If so then that's a hell lot of worlds."

Diana thought for a moment. "It has been around 13 months since the Slidology world was freed from the Kromaggs. So we can take this as a little out of date." The computer screen continued to stretch as more worlds were added to it.

As Rembrandt sighed Mallory placed his hands on his shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll find a way to free all the worlds."

"It will take ages to go through all this." Diana switched off the computer and unhooked the timer. "I will purchase a digital assistant on the next world so that we can go through it at leisure."

"Right. Let's keep moving." Smiled Mallory. "I don't like being in one place for too long."

"Why is that?" 

"The hotel bill would be through the roof."

Rembrandt looked at Diana and they both chuckled. "We'll slide in the morning."

Mallory, Rembrandt, Diana, and Maggie stood together in a dark alleyway as they prepared for the slide. Diana typed in a destination co-ordinate for their journey and then activated the timer. The stream of energy shot out and a small circle of light began to form. But just as the gateway was forming the vortex suddenly began to flicker, shrink back down, and then fade.

"What was that?" Asked Maggie.

Diana looked over the timer. Seeing that nothing was wrong she banged the side of it and the stream of energy shot out once again. The vortex began to form but very slowly, the normal howling wind reduced to an almost silent whimper. It took a while but it soon fully formed.

"That can't be good. I'll check it out on the next world." Nodded Diana. 

One by one the Sliders jumped into the vortex in a flash of light. As Diana jumped in she did not noticed the timer display flashing on and off…

What if you found a portal to a parallel universe?

What if you could slide into a thousand different worlds?

Where it's the same year

And you're the same person

But everything else is different

And what if you can't find your way home…

Starring: Cleavent Derricks as Rembrandt Brown

Kari Wuhrer as Maggie Beckett

Robert Floyd as Mallory

And Tembi Locke as Diana Davis

… Sliders!

"Woah!" The vortex ended and Mallory emerged into the parallel Earth. He fell through the air and landed roughly on the ground below. Rubbing his arm that he had landed on he looked up to see the silver-blue vortex shifting in and out of phase a few feet above the ground. There was a flash of light and a shout as Maggie was thrown out of the vortex. Mallory held out his hands and caught onto her, falling back slightly.

"Thanks." Said Maggie, getting onto her own two feet. 

"That has to be one of the roughest rides we've been on." He said smiling.

"Definitely." 

Another flash ensued and Diana appeared. The two of them rushed forward and helped to catch her. 

"Agghh!" Rembrandt's voice could be heard before he was even seen. He was thrown clear from the vortex and landed hard on the ground ahead of the group.

"You ok Remmy?" Smiled Mallory, helping him up.

"Just great." He said, patting the dust off. "We just got a new timer and it's on the fritz."

Diana looked up as the vortex closed and then around at the surroundings. They were in some kind of corridor, metallic plating was welded onto the wall, and it was very dark. She lifted up her hands to look at the timer. Switching the timer off and then on again she waited to see if their situation improved but there was no change. 

"Is it me or is it very cold." Shivered Maggie. "Diana? What is it?" Maggie walked up to her. She looked down and saw that the timer's display was flashing erratically. "Something here must be interfering with the timer." 

"So we can't slide?" Asked Rembrandt, rubbing his hands together.

"I don't think we can." Said Diana retrieving the timer. "For some reason the timer had just about locked on to this world's co-ordinates and struggled to establish a gateway to it. Sliding out might not be possible until we find out why."

"Well then let's look around." They turned to see Mallory already half way down the corridor, pumping his legs to the ground for warmth. The others followed. "Why is it so cold?" 

"I'm not sure." Diana answered, still looking at the timer.

"What about a field of some kind?" Asked Rembrandt. "A defense to stop sliding into this world?"

"Maybe. I can't be sure."

The Sliders came to the end of the dark corridor and saw the large set of doors. They tried to push against it so that it would open but it would not budge. Maggie knocked loudly. "Hey! Is there anybody in there?!"

Silence answered her. She was about to shout again when a slit in the door moved to one side and a face appeared. The face looked them over and then vanished. They stood waiting for a while and then the door slowly creaked open just enough for them to enter in single file.

"Who are you?" They looked up to see a young woman, with long brown hair that covered half of her face, point a double-barreled shotgun towards them as they entered. 

"We mean you no harm." Stated Maggie, holding her hands up into the air.

The woman looked the intruders over, looking at their clothes. "You've come from outside?" 

"Erm … yes."

"Where is your protective gear?" She saw the puzzled expressions that were met with her question. "Your radiation suits, headset, oxygen apparatus?" More bewildered looks. "How did you get here?"

"Listen lady." Said Rembrandt. "We'll tell you everything you need to know. Just put down the gun and tell us where we are and what is going on?"

"Over there." She pointed with her guns towards some metal boxes. The group slowly walked over and sat down next to them. They watched as she called someone to her and they began to talk silently, her eyes still on the Sliders.

"Radiation?" Asked Mallory. "No wonder she asked us about all that protective gear."

"Could that be what is disrupting the timer?" Thought Maggie.

Diana paused. "No normal rate of radiation could disrupt the field that is generated from the gateway. If it was then it would have to be a dangerously high amount." She looked around and saw the people who slowly walked around the large room, apart from their heads they were dressed in thick protective clothing. She looked back up as the woman approached.

"We … were involved in an accident." Lied Mallory. "It happened just as we arrived here. Our heads are all foggy and we can hardly remember anything."

The woman watched his expression for signs that he was being sincere. "You mean you don't remember how you got here? What has happened? Or why you don't have the right gear?" They all nodded no. "… if so then you are lucky to be alive and indoors." She lowered her gun.

"What has happened?" Rembrandt asked again.

A boy with burns on his face walked over to them carrying some supplies. He gave each of them a blanket to warm them and some glasses filled with a strange dark green liquid.

"What is this?"

"It is a special mix that helps to reduce the effects from the radiation." They watched as the woman took a sip and then followed suit. 

Mallory watched her and then taking a step forward he brushed away the hair that covered the side of her face. She quickly pushed his hands away, covering back her face, and looked to the ground. "Radiation burns?" 

She nodded. "Almost everyone has them." She looked up. "Though you four seem to be ok."

"Please er…" 

"Vanessa."

"Vanessa… what has happened? It might help to jog our memories."

Sighing Vanessa took a deep breath and then started. "Two years ago several Japanese hackers hacked into the Central Computer Database and proceeded to launch the unused nuclear warheads from the previous war. Our own experts tried to stop the launch but they had released a computer virus which stopped our attempts. We finally managed to severe their connection but not before a single warhead had been launched. Soaring high into the air it turned and landed right back down on our soil." 

She stopped and watched the expressions on their faces. This really was a shock and new to them. "The result … what you see before you. The nuclear cloud blotted out the sun, vegetation and crops soon died, and radiation storms rage on all around. We can barely protect ourselves from it."

"So that is why this place is lined with metallic pieces: to help shield from the radiation." Said Diana.

She nodded. "We managed to put together protective gear so that we can travel outside so that we can scout out for any food that we can find. But the situation is getting dire. Supplies are running out and the Stormers keep stealing what we get."

"The Stormers?"

"A group of thugs who ride around in the radiation storms outside, waiting for an unprotected convoy to approach. They are all disfigured from being outside for so long."

"Would you mind if you give us a minute?" Asked Diana.

"… Go ahead." Vanessa stood up and walked over to some others.

"The radiation from the nuclear blast must be what is disrupting the vortex…"

"So we just need to find somewhere with enough cover to slide?" Suggested Maggie.

"Easier said than done. Looks like the radiation is integrated into the atmosphere."

"So what can we do?"

Diana looked around. "If it is dangerous to travel on the surface because of the storms I'm guessing they have tunnels leading down into the earth. To provide heat if not anything else."  
"That's right." Nodded Rembrandt. "Towards the earth's core it would be warmer."

"And hopefully it will be far enough from the radiation to allow a slide."

"Vanessa!" Mallory called out to her. "Do you have any tunnels that go deep down below the surface?"

"Of course we do."

"What is the deepest ones that you have?"

She thought for a moment. "The main complex a couple of miles from here are very deep. Why?"

"Because we need your help."

Mallory zipped up the protective suit he was in and then put on the headgear. Flipping a switch on the side of the suit the small canister on his back opened up and the air inside it began to circulate to his head and then recycled itself as he breathed out. He turned to the others who were just finishing putting on their equipment. 

"Ok. We go hard and fast." Said Vanessa. "The RV is parked just ahead and I don't want to be in the storm longer than I have to." They all nodded. "Ok, let's go." She pressed a switch on the side and the large doors opened, the storm quickly blew inside, blowing them back a little. 

"God I can already feel my brain cells frying!" Mallory quipped.

"It's not your brain cells you should be worrying about." Maggie smiled. Indicating his groin.

Mallory flinched. "Let's pick up the pace!"

The group quickly reached the RV and then piled into it, slamming the door shut. Vanessa started up the engines and it soon roared to life and they were on their way. She squinted her eyes and struggled to see through the storm.

"Do you have any family?" Asked Mallory.

"My parents died a long time ago, before all this."

"It must be hard being alone."

"But I'm not alone. I have my friends who live in the complex with me."

Maggie stared out of the reinforced window and looked at the devastation that the warhead had done. The storm raged on all around and covered the entire area in a thick blanket. Looking up she could just about make out the sky; a large black cloud was all that could be seen, the sun no where in sight. It was almost half an hour later when they pulled up at a large complex. The group quickly ran through the storm and to the safety of the building, not seeing the several RV's that had been slowly trailing them.

"Much better." Smiled Rembrandt as he took off the heavy gear. "Fresh air… well kind of."  
Vanessa waited for the group to take off most of the protective gear and then led the way into the Complex. They came to a door similar to the one back at the other site and she knocked onto it. They were quickly led inside, as they recognized Vanessa, the door closing shut behind them.

"Vanessa." Came a voice. They turned to see a man with radiation marks on his arm walk up to them. "It's been a while. How is your health?"

She smiled back and hugged him. "I have been alright. We are all still surviving."

"And who are these?" 

"Maggie, Mallory, Diana, and this is Rembrandt." She introduced them. "Is it alright if we go down into the tunnels to warm up?"

"By all means."

Vanessa led the group through the large room and towards a side corridor. Suddenly a loud noise sounded and they all turned to see the entrance doors burst wide open. A group of men in heavy clothing and with weapons ran in. 

"Stormers!" Someone shouted.

"Come on!" Vanessa quickly led the group towards the tunnels.

"What about your friends?" Asked Mallory.

"They will be forced to hand over their supplies. If they don't they will be killed." She shook her head. "I just don't understand why they are attacking?!"

"Maybe they think that you brought some precious cargo with you?"

"Of course! That's what they must think! Why else would an unescorted RV travel through the storm!" 

They made their way through the corridors and then to a framed arch in the ground, the entrance to the tunnels. Vanessa grabbed a few flashlights that were to the side of the tunnel and then passed them on to the Sliders. 

"Vanessa?"

"Go on." She said to Mallory. "I can't leave my friends."

They hesitated and turned as shouts came from behind them.

"Thank you for all that you have done." Said Maggie.

"Good luck." She handed over her shotgun to Maggie and ran back the way they had come.

As they descended into the depths of the earth all sense of time was lost. All they knew was that they needed to keep going down, there was no other alternative. Minutes merged into hours and the longer they kept going the more rougher the tunnels became.

"The area up ahead looks unstable." Said Diana. "But we need to keep going." After a brief rest they continued on. They had already begun to fill warmer the deeper they went and now it was almost boiling. Soon the tunnel sharply ended. 

"Diana?" Hoped Maggie.

She looked at the timer once more. It was still flashing eratically. "Cross your fingers…" She activated the timer. The stream of energy that shot out from the timer flickered on and off and would not become stable. "I'll try boosting the power." Diana upped the outage and the stream slowly became steady. A wind blew all around them as the vortex slowly formed. But it stopped as it grew to half its normal height and flickered in between expanding and retracting.

"Oh no." Mallory shook his heads. "We're trapped here."

Diana would not give up. She routed as much power as the timer could muster and then activated it once more. She let out a sharp scream and dropped the device as a spark shot up her fingers.

"Diana! Are you alright?" Said Rembrandt, helping her up.

She managed to smile. "A little too much power."

She picked up the timer once more and then crouched onto the ground, keeping it as low as possible. She then pressed the button. The stream established into a steady flow and the vortex opened on the ground beneath them. It still flickered worryingly but seemed to stay intact.

"Way to go Diana!" Smiled Rembrandt. His smile faded as shouts from the Stormers came closer.

"Let's not waste any time!" Maggie shouted above the noise of the wind.

"I'm with that." Rembrandt stepped forward and dropped into the vortex in a flash of light. Mallory watched Diana jump in next and then quickly followed afterwards. Once everyone else was safely in Maggie jumped in with a flash of light. The wind slowly faded as the vortex closed.

The journey through the gateway started off as rough as before but seemed to calm as they approached the exit. Maggie emerged from out of the vortex and landed onto her feet. Looking around, she spotted the others, they had all landed in a grassy field. The blades of grass swayed violently in the breeze then became their normal rate as the vortex began to fade.

"That was close but we made it." Smiled Rembrandt.

"Better hope that everything is intact." Joked Maggie, looking at the two guys.

"It better be." Retorted Mallory. "Diana, how's the timer?"

Diana turned around to face the others and lifted up the device. They all gasped audibly as they saw the numbers that were ticking down.

"Please don't tell me that's what I think it is?" Asked Maggie.

"… Having to open the gateway so many times and add to that the jolt that passed through the timer must have disrupted the circuitry." She summarised. "We are back to the way we have started."

"Well easy come, easy go." Smiled Mallory. "No use dwelling on it." He checked the timer. "3 hours and 23 minutes. Not long but enough to scope out this world." He started off.

Rembrandt sighed. "Wish I had his attitude."

Maggie laughed. "You're perfect just the way you are, Remmy."

Diana joined them and together the three of them followed after Mallory. Eager to find out what this world would hold in store for them.

End.


	4. Whispers

Episode 4: "Whispers."

Maggie lifted up her hand and stared at the red digits that were counting down on the timer's display. The readout indicated that they had just over three minutes left on this world. She looked back up and made her way over to the bench in the park where Rembrandt, Mallory, and Diana were sitting down and talking quietly to one another. As she stood next to them she just listened to their words and did not join in with the conversation. They had all been pushed hard on the last few worlds, and she was exhausted, their time on this one being so short that there was no time to rest. She hoped that the next world would offer this chance.

Rembrandt sighed. "We have not come across any Kromagg invaded worlds yet. And though that's a good thing it still means that when the time comes we have a lot of work to do. It's gonna take a lot of energy and time to synthesise the virus time and time again…"

"Don't worry Remmy. I'm sure that Diana will think of something." Mallory said, in between mouthfuls of the burger he was eating. 

Diana looked up from the palm top that she held and sighed. "Hopefully. I am currently working on a theory to distribute the virus simultaneously to all worlds through the gateway. But so far … nothing."

"It's just gonna take time, right? Well I think our time on this world is almost up. Maggie?" Silence greeted Rembrandt. "Hey, Maggie, you ok?"

She turned around. "Sorry?"

"You were totally out of it for a minute. What's wrong?"

"I'm just really tired that's all." But though she did not share it with anyone else this was not the only reason for her withdrawal. She had been thinking a lot lately, thinking, about Quinn. Their time not only sliding but in the bubble universe had created a strong bond between them, one that could not be easily forgotten. If Quinn was here, she was sure that he could find a way to do what they could not. She looked at the timer. "Time to go."

Moving from the bench she pointed the timer at the grass in front of them. The stream of energy shot out as she activated it and a small point of light appeared. The light grew until it formed a swirling silver blue vortex, the wind blowing fiercely all around them. 

"Who knows?" Said Mallory, smiling. "We may slide into a world where one of us is rich!" He rushed forward and disappeared into the vortex in a flash of light.

"I doubt it would be you though." Laughed Rembrandt. Diana chucked and went through the vortex second. "You sure you're ok, Maggie?"

"Go. I'm fine."

He continued to watch her for a moment and then jumped into the vortex. He had not seen the solitary tear that escaped her eyes, she quickly brushed it aside, resuming her naturally strong exterior, and followed the others.

The vortex expelled Maggie and she was thrown to the soft ground. The background sound of the howling vortex continued for a few moments longer and then slowly faded and disappeared. She looked around to gain her bearings and saw that they were in the same park from the last world that they slid out of. Mallory was checking out the paper off of the local newsstand, Diana was already looking over her palm top, and Rembrandt was scanning the area. 

Suddenly there was a loud shout and they turned to see several armed police officers running after a man. The man tried to dodge in and out of the frightened crowd in the park to avoid being shot and kept firing back from a handgun he carried when he got the chance. The man froze as he saw the back-up that tried to block him from up ahead.

__

"Remmy…"

Rembrandt turned as he heard his name being called but was grabbed by the armed man who had started to panic because of his current predicament. He pushed the gun into Remmy's chest. "Don't move! Or I swear to God I'll shoot him!"

The Police Officers slowed. "You are outnumbered! Throw down your weapon and place you hands upon your head."

"Never! I'm never going back to jail!" He pulled the trigger. 

"Remmy!" Maggie screamed.

Rembrandt fell to the floor as the blood flowed from the wound in his chest. He remembered hearing the gunfire that followed and the screams from the armed man as he was shot. His name was once again being called but it seemed faint and far off. He saw images of his friends surrounding him. Then nothing but darkness…

What if you found a portal to a parallel universe?

What if you could slide into a thousand different worlds?

Where it's the same year

And you're the same person

But everything else is different

And what if you can't find your way home…

Starring: Cleavent Derricks as Rembrandt Brown

Kari Wuhrer as Maggie Beckett

Robert Floyd as Mallory

And Tembi Locke as Diana Davis

… Sliders!

The double-doored entrance of the hospital burst open as the stretcher was pushed forward. Maggie, Mallory, and Diana ran slightly behind it and watched as the Doctors started to analyse Rembrandt's condition. They began to shout out strange medical orders that made no sense to Maggie and soon sedatives were injected into his arm to ease the pain. They followed their friend around the corridor but then were not allowed any closer.

"Sorry but you have to wait out here." Said a female Intern.

"But he's our friend. I…"

"I'm sorry but only doctors are allowed beyond this point. I promise you we will do all that we can to help your friend." She turned and went into the room.

Maggie reluctantly stepped back and made her way to the waiting area. She sat down onto a chair and glanced back towards the room, a worried expression on her face. She finally looked up as Mallory and Diana approached. They joined her by the chairs and they all sat in silence for several minutes. "He will be ok, won't he?" 

Mallory placed his arms around her. "It will be ok. You know Remmy, he's a survivor, he'll be just fine."

Diana went over to the nearby cooler and poured some water for the three of them. As she handed it to Maggie she watched her expression. She was exhausted, worried, and tired, and was in serious need of some rest. Maggie avoided her gaze as she continued to sip at the water. She just could not loose another friend, she just couldn't.

"Maggie. Why don't you go and get some rest?"

She shook her head. "No. I have to wait here for Remmy and see if he's ok."

"There's nothing that we can do here. They are doing all that they can. All we can do is rest and wait for any news."

"She's right, Maggie." Added Mallory. "You've been working harder than the rest of us lately. Get some rest. We'll contact you if something comes up."

Maggie let out a long sigh. They were right. She needed a good rest but all her thoughts were on Remmy. He just had to be ok. He had to. She finally stood up and checked the timer. They had over 56 hours on this world. "Ok. I'm going to try and sort out all the paperwork at the Reception and then will see if they have a spare room here to rest in. As soon as there is any news … any … then I want you guys to come and find me."

"We promise."

Taking one last look at the operating room, Maggie turned, and walked down the bleak white corridor. She followed the signs on the walls to the Reception and after being handed a lot of forms sat down to fill them out. 

"How is she doing?" 

Maggie looked up to see two Doctors conferencing a few feet away from her. 

"Our Jane Doe is still a bit of a mystery. We can not find out any information on her. As for her condition she regained consciousness this morning but fell back into unconsciousness again." He shook his head. "The regeneration work on her body is going slowly. We may have to start Electro-Magnetic Therapy in order to re-stimulate her unused leg muscles."

"Good. Contact Alex, he's the head of that department, to start work as soon as he can. Maybe once she awakens we can finally find out what the hell happened to her and why she was connected to that strange machine."

The other doctor nodded.

__

"Remmy…"

Rembrandt slowly opened his eyes. He turned away from the bright light that was shining down onto his face and found that he was lying on a hospital bed. As he tried to get up a burning pain erupted in his chest and he sat back down. Soon he remembered what had happened. He closed his eyes back to try and rest.

__

"Remmy…"

He opened his eyes once more. Someone had just called his name. As he slowly twisted his neck around to scan the entire room he found that he was alone. Puzzled, he continued to look around.

__

"Remmy… I need you…"

Rembrandt shook his head. It must be the sedative. He was now beginning to hear things. He looked down and saw tubes that came out of his arm and the bandage that was wrapped around his waist. As he rested his head back onto the pillow he suddenly shot back up.

"Wade?!"

He shifted his body up into a sitting position and waited until the dizziness stopped. He then slowly took out the tubes from his arm and moved off of the bed to stand onto his feet. It was going to be hard going, as every movement caused more pain in his side, but he just had to find out if this was all in his head or not. He found a wheelchair in the far corner of the room and sat down onto it. This was much better and eased the pain. Rolling the wheels with his hands he left the room and tried to follow the sound of the voice.

__

"Remmy…"

"Maggie … Maggie wake up?" Mallory shook her.

"Maybe we should let her rest still." Said Diana.

"And not tell her that the Docs have news on Rembrandt? She'd kill us when she does wake up." He continued to gently shake her awake. "Rise and shine Maggie."

Maggie yawned softly and stretched her cramped muscles. As she looked around she realised that she had fallen asleep whilst filling out the forms on the couch. "How long was I out for?" She quickly became alert and turned to the others. "Rembrandt?"

"You've been asleep for a good couple of hours. As for Remmy … they have news. We thought we'd wait and wake you up straight away."

Maggie quickly got up and followed Mallory as he led them to where a Doctor was waiting nearby. "Please let it be good news."

He smiled. "Good news it is. The wound was a lot worse than it appeared. The bullet created a large laceration in his skin that barely missed the lower section of his right lung. We have repaired the damage and he should be fine in a day or so."

A wave of relief fell on the Sliders. Rembrandt was going to be just fine. "Can we go and see him?" Asked Diana.

"You can. He should be resting in operating room 2."

Smiling their thanks the group made their way down the long corridor and to the operating room. They opened the door. "Rem-" Their words were cut short as they saw that the room was vacant. Rembrandt was no where in sight.

Rembrandt stopped and breathed out hard, his arms aching. But he could not stop for long. The voice was becoming louder and much clearer the closer he got to it. As he wheeled himself down a corridor he felt the strange connection grow stronger. It was her, It had to be!

"Wade!" He called out. "Where are you?"

__

"Turn left Remmy…"

To the left was a large door with the words: 'Electro-Mag Room' in blue letters above the doorway. He pushed the doors opened and entered. His face lit up as he saw the form that was lying still on the operating table.

"Wade…" Tears escaped his eyes. As he began to wheel over to her he stopped in shock as he saw her figure. 

Her face was just as he remembered it, calm, beautiful, with the light red hair that framed it. As his gaze wandered lower he saw her neck with strange puncture marks on them that had now been stitched up and worked on. Memories flooded back of the Kromagg machine that she had been connected to.

"Damn Maggs!" 

Out of her arms and limps various tubes protruded out of them, a source of substance for her body, replacing the Kromagg version. A strange machine rested just above her legs that sent small electric shocks along them in an attempt to re-stimulate neuro activity.

__

"Remmy. I'm so glad that you are here!" Her lips had not moved. She seemed to be speaking through telepathy.

"W-Wade …" He shook his heads. "I can't believe I've found you again … what happened? What happened after you dropped me back with the others?"

There was a small silence. _"I will show you…"_

Three months ago…

Maggie silently walked over to Mallory and Diana. She had lost him. Rembrandt had decided to stay with Wade. There was just no point on continuing on. She had lost everyone… Suddenly a burst of light appeared and she turned to see Rembrandt fall out of a swirling blue vortex. It closed as quickly as it had appeared. She wanted to run over to him and hug him tight but knew they needed to give him a little time. She watched as he walked slowly over to them.

__

"Remmy…"

He turned, hearing, sensing something. She had felt it too. It was Wade.

__

"I will always be with you Remmy…"

Rembrandt fought back the tears and tried to say his goodbye. Her image floated in the lake and then slowly disappeared. Whatever was to happen to Wade he would always be with her also. Gathering his strength he went over to the others and they comforted him.

Wade let the mental image that she projected fade and turned as she allowed the power of her vortex to pull her in. She knew what she had to do. Knew that she could not live like this for another moment longer. As she emerged onto the other side she used all of her energy to break free from the machine that trapped her body. The glass shattered, the fluid spilled out, and the machine malfunctioned and cracked open.   
She waited until all of the fluid had drained and then she slowly lifted up her left arm that still seemed to have some life in it. She then ripped, one by one, the tubes that were connected from her body to the machine. The pain was excruciating and she almost blacked out many times but would not stop until they were all out. She soon slumped forward, as all the connections were broken, in a pool of blood and fluid, face down in the ground…

Present Day…

"Remmy?" Maggie looked into the next room but there was still no sign of him. 

"I can't find him anywhere." Answered Mallory, as he joined her.

"Mallory! Maggie!" They turned to see Diana step out of a room. "It's Rembrandt … and Wade!"

The two stopped in shock. Wade? Wade was here? Suddenly the words of the two doctors filtered back to Maggie. The woman who they had found in a mechanical device … it had to be their Wade! Maggie rushed forward with Mallory right behind and they followed Diana into the Electro-Magnetic Therapy room.

"… Wade…"

Rembrandt looked up, still in his wheelchair, and at his friends. "It's Wade. We've found each other again!"

Diana checked her over. "Her body had been rendered totally useless by the machine that she was trapped in. But it looks like this machine is trying to re-stimulate the pathways in her body. With a lot of work her body could recover." She picked up the chart that was beside the bed. "They were planning on taking out the tubes in her body as soon as she was awake and could eat naturally."

Maggie smiled at Wade. "Hi Wade." She waited for a response. "Remmy can you still hear her?"

"No. I think she's resting. It took a lot out of her to contact me and show me how she ended up here."

"We should let her rest then." She turned to leave. 

"You go on. I'm fine. I just … want to be here when she wakes."

Maggie nodded her understanding and led Diana and Mallory out of the room. She already knew how this was going to turn out.

The next morning the team returned to the hospital. The timer was ticking down and it was almost time for the slide. Diana and Mallory had expressed their apprehension the night before at the hotel but Maggie told them to wait as everything would sort itself out. They now stared through the glass window at Rembrandt who sat staring at the still form of Wade in her room.

"He is not going to come with us is he." Said Mallory, quietly. "And Wade is not fit enough to go anywhere."

Maggie closed her eyes and sighed. Taking a deep breath she opened them and entered the room. 

Rembrandt looked up. "Listen. I have been thinking…"

"It's ok Remmy." Maggie answered, cutting him off. "I already know what you are going to say. You can't slide with us. You've lost her too many times to just get up and leave now. She needs you just as much as you need her … you need to stay by her side." Rembrandt lowered his gaze. "Don't worry. The rest of us are going to keep on sliding. We'll store this Earth's co-ordinates and come back every few slides to check up on the two of you. And when she is finally better then we will all slide out of here … together."

Rembrandt was lost for words. "Give me a hug girl!" Maggie rushed over to him and they hugged tightly. "Be careful…"

"We will." Maggie finally let him go. "We're coming right back for you soon. So Wade…" She turned to her. "You better fight to get better."

Rembrandt turned to face the others. "No words Mallory?"  
"Nope." He said shaking his head. "Coz like she said we're coming right back here to check up on you guys. This isn't a goodbye…."  
"… It's a see you soon." Finished Diana.  
Remmy smiled. He watched as they all turned and activated the vortex. Shielded his face from the strong wind, it ruffled the bottom of his hospital gown, and he watched the three flashes of light that signalled their entry into the gateway. The wind slowly died down and the vortex closed. They were gone.   
"Well Wade. Where were we? There is still so much more to tell..." He picked up her hand. "It was during a gunfight on the world before. Maggie and I went through the vortex first and Quinn and Colin were right behind. It was while travelling between universes that there was this bright flash of light. Quinn and Colin disappeared and this new Quinn, Mallory, appeared." He stopped and sighed. "We later found out that a man called Professor Geiger had somehow merged that world's Quinn with our own and in the process Colin had become unstuck..."  
Rembrandt continued to talk to Wade for several hours. Detailing all that had happened to them since she was taken by the Kromaggs. He watched as her eyelids fluttered continuously. He knew that she could hear every word. He was finally here for her ... and would never leave her side.  
  
End.


	5. Adjustments

Episode 5: "Adjustments."

Wade took a final look around the hospital room that had been her home for the last four months. The soft bed that lay against the side of the wall, the beautiful flowers standing tall in their vase on the desk, the window that allowed the sun to shine through. It was a strange feeling, but even though she had almost died on this world, she was going to miss this place. Miss the familiarity of it all, miss having something solid and unchanging in her life. And now she had to prepare herself to leave all this behind and once again slide into the unknown.

It scared her a little. Yes they had seen some amazing things but she remembered how sliding once was: the danger, the constant staying alive until the next window. In the midst of it all she had her friends to rely on and they would always help each other through it. But an important part of that veil of safety had been taken from her grasp. Quinn … she could hardly even bring herself to say it … Quinn was gone. Or still there, locked somewhere deep within Mallory. She did not know how she was going to cope seeing him, day in day out, knowing this. Knowing that he shared some of Quinn's memories but was a completely different person.

She had a lot to adjust to. But Rembrandt would always be there for her, their bond of friendship, unbreakable. For the past month since she had gained consciousness she had been catching up with him, their sense of ease growing the longer they spent time together. She had asked many questions about Mallory, Diana, and Maggie, in an attempt to make things easier for when the time came. And that time was drawing near. Having seen her condition a week ago, (being on the last course of her therapy and walking unaided), they said that they would be back in another week or so to pick Wade and Rembrandt up.

She looked up and saw Remmy finalising the last of her release papers and thanking the doctors for all of their hard work. He soon came over to her, a huge smile on his face. "That's everything taken care of. You've been discharged and can leave whenever you want. It might be best if we head off to the hotel and wait there for the others."

Wade tried to smile. "Guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

Remmy placed his hands around her shoulders and together they left the hospital and into the bright sunlight outside. He knew that the next few days were going to be hard on her. Meeting with Mallory and sliding again was going to be rough. He just had to try and be there for her. A shoulder to cry on if she needed him…

What if you found a portal to a parallel universe?

What if you could slide into a thousand different worlds?

Where it's the same year

And you're the same person

But everything else is different

And what if you can't find your way home…

Starring: Cleavent Derricks as Rembrandt Brown

Sabrina Lloyd as Wade Welles

Kari Wuhrer as Maggie Beckett

Robert Floyd as Mallory

And Tembi Locke as Diana Davis

… Sliders!

Maggie pushed back the large branches in her way as she continued to run as fast as she could through the dense overgrowth. Looking behind her she spotted Diana and Mallory close behind, the shouts from the townspeople and barks from the hounds echoing through the woods.

"Who would have thought that these people shun technology so much!" Said Diana, breathing hard.

"And we just had to slide right into their anti-tech movement!" Mallory shook his head. "Are we unlucky or what?!"

"How much time?" Maggie called back.

Diana checked the timer. "Just under ten minutes!"

Maggie listened hard and could hear a stream not far off. Her military training took over and she led the team from the path and into the trees. The going was slow and hard, but they managed to emerge into a clearing, as they followed the sound of water over pebbles. 

"If we go through the river the hounds will lose our scent!"

They quickly followed Maggie's example as she waded into the river and followed the current as it flowed downstream. They then exited the river onto the other side of the bank and hid behind some large bushes. It was not long before they could see the outline of the hounds struggling to regain their scent. The townspeople arrived and tried to spread out over the area but they could not find any sign of them. Reluctantly they gave up on the chase.

"Now that was close." Whispered Mallory.

They began to relax and took the time to rest. Maggie sighed as she shook her head off of the thoughts and feelings that she was having. She was a little apprehensive about seeing Wade, especially after all that has happened. And also about Remmy, with Wade back it would not be long before their bond was put aside, before he looked to her for comfort.

Diana held up the silver timer. "3 … 2 … 1… opening!" 

The stream of energy shot out from the timer and a large wind picked up as the gateway appeared. They waited until the vortex fully formed and then one by one jumped into it. As always, Maggie was the last to enter, she took once last look around and then jumped in with a flash of light. Preparing herself for what was to come.

Rembrandt turned the television set on and flicked through the programs that were playing. Wade and himself had just come back from doing a bit of shopping and now were waiting for the others to arrive. He knew that it had been a good idea, not only for passing the time but making Wade feel better, as she bought some new outfits. After she picked out the clothes that she was going to wear she stepped into the shower to freshen up.

A sharp knock came to the door and he got up off of the couch to answer it. He smiled as he saw the three people waiting outside. "Maggie! Diana! Mallory!" He opened the door up wide and let them enter. "How have you been?"

"Been a little hectic." Said Mallory. He brightened up when he spotted the food that was on the table. "But things are looking better." He quickly went over to it and started eating. 

"Diana." He hugged her. "Hope you didn't slide anywhere too bad."

"Just the usual." She smiled, laughing as Mallory scoffed down the food. "Though we have not eaten in a while." She joined him by the table.

"Hi Remmy." Said Maggie as she entered. The two hugged. "Wade?"

"She's in the shower. Been really apprehensive about meeting you guys."

"Well she's not the only one."

Mallory listened in on them whilst eating. He was just as apprehensive as both Maggie and Wade. Memories still floated around in his head from when Quinn and her were sliding together. He knew of the unspoken feelings that they had for each other. Feelings that were interrupted with the arrival of Maggie. Though the tension had lightened once she and Wade bonded it was still going to be weird between them. As he also knew of the stronger bond that had developed between Quinn and Maggie after Wade was taken away.

"So when do we slide?" Asked Remmy.

"Almost twenty four hours." Replied Diana.

"Guess that gives some time to let things settle."

Maggie turned and looked towards the bathroom. She could only guess what was going through her mind.

As Wade stood underneath the shower she began to cry. Tears slowly escaped the confines of her eyes, and ran down the sides of her cheek, merging with the water. Lifting up her arms she felt the sides of her neck and the markings that would always be a constant reminder of what the Kromaggs had done to her. Her gaze then turned to her arms, and the relatively fresh stitches, more reminders of the tube connections from that dreaded machine. 

Her thoughts then turned once more to her home, thanks to Remmy, only now escaping Kromagg control. She could only hope that her parents were safe, and alive. And Quinn … she could not even think about it … she had to see Mallory for herself. Taking her time she slowly stepped out and dried herself off. After getting dressed she took a deep breath and left the bathroom.

She instantly saw the four sets of eyes that watched her as she entered the room. She stood nervously for a moment, only relaxing slightly, as Rembrandt ushered her over. He laid a protective hand onto her and then led her over to the woman who was next to a computer.

"Wade, this is Dr Diana Davis, our relative scientist and physicist." 

"Hi." Wade said, smiling a little.

"Nice to meet you Wade." Diana smiled back. "We've heard a lot about you."

"You too."

The familiar face of Maggie then came into view. "Hi Wade."

"Maggie." She answered, nodding her head.

"It's been a long time. Glad that you're ok. You gave us a fright the last time we met."

Wade lowered her head. Trying to block out the memories. "It's ok. It's good to see you too." They both fell silent for a while but then stepped forward and they both hugged each other. They held on for what seemed like a long time and then finally pulled apart.

Her heart was pumping fast as she knew who the next person to meet was. She turned around and saw him standing to one side. He looked so different, yet, yet there was obviously something about him that reminded her of him. She slowly walked over to him and looked into his eyes. Yes, she had been right, those eyes … there was something there that reminded her of Quinn. 

"Quinn?" She finally asked.

Mallory struggled to find words. "Feels like I already know you."

Wade raised her hand and stroked the side of his face. "He's … he's inside of you?"

"Somewhere … deep inside … though I can't feel him anymore."

She shook her head. It was so strange seeing this alternate Quinn, having theirs trapped inside of him, with all his memories. "Remmy explained to me a little about what happened. What was it like?"

He hesitated for a moment. "Strange, slightly painful. It was like both our consciousness' were sharing the same space in my mind at the exact same moment in time. Then eventually my own became dominant and his retreated into the back of my mind."

Wade continued to watch Mallory for a long time. She had to fight herself to stop the tears. She was glad when Rembrandt spoke to break the silence.

"How about we all go down to the bar and get a drink?"

They all nodded. Rembrandt held onto Wade and led her down. Maggie and Mallory could not help but feel a little awkward around her. Only time could change that. They entered the bar and ordered some drinks. Wade felt that she needed to keep speaking otherwise she would descend into her thoughts too much.

"So is that the Kromagg timer?" 

Diana nodded and passed it over. "Yes. The one we acquired from the Slidology World. We used to be able to open up a vortex at will but the Nuclear Earth caused it to malfunction." 

Wade nodded, remembering more of what Remmy told her. "What about our Earth's co-ordinates?"

"We have your world stored from when we tracked Rembrandt to it. Though we don't have our own."

As she took a sip Wade glanced over to Mallory. He was staring at her also though trying to hide it. The feeling of awkwardness grew.

"Wade." Said Maggie, not sure if she should ask. "I know it is hard to talk about it. But…"

"It's ok Maggie, go on."

"When you were put into the experimental program by the Maggs did you find out any information? Like on the Magg Home-World or something?"

"The others and I only heard bits and pieces of information. They drugged us 80% of the time and when we were conscious they were carrying out their tests. Why?"

"Just that if we ever hope to separate the Quinn's and take out the Maggs once and for all maybe the Mallory's can find a way."

Rembrandt sighed. "The only problem is that we don't have the co-ordinates."

"And from what you have told me only Quinn and Colin could unlock it." Added Diana. "So in other worlds only someone with the same quantum signature of that Earth could open up a gateway to slide into it."

Wade was still trying to process the fact that Quinn was not from their Earth. That and the fact that he also had a brother. "You know, I'm still a little tired. I'm going to have an early night."

"But it's only 6:30." Said Rembrandt.

"I know. But I can hardly keep my eyes open." Wade said goodnight to them all and then walked up the stairs to the suite.

"Will she be ok?" Asked Diana.

"I'm sure she will be." Answered Maggie. "Wade is strong and she has survived a lot."

"Maggie's right." Said Remmy. "Just give her some time." 

"No … no…" Wade tossed and turned in her bed. Images of the Kromaggs experimenting on her body invaded her dreams. "No … leave me alone! Quinn! … Remmy! … help me!" The nightmare continued. She could feel their cold alien hands touching her, injecting her with strange substances, she tried to cry out but was ignored. "Quinn!" She cried. "Quinn!!!"

"Wade!" Maggie had heard her scream and entered the room. "Wade wake up!" 

Wade quickly opened her red eyes, the tears from her dream, also happening in reality.

"It was just a dream." Maggie said quietly. "Just a dream…"

She placed a comforting hand around Wade as she sobbed into her shoulder. "He's gone isn't he! Quinn is gone! We are never going to see him again are we?!"

"Ssshh." She tried to calm her. "Quinn isn't gone. He's there, within Mallory. We'll find a way to get them apart. We'll both see him again … someday."

Wade looked up at Maggie. There had been a lot of friction between them in the past but she saw that Maggie was being sincere. "Did you…" Wade had to ask. "… and Quinn?"

She paused for a moment. "Quinn and I became really close after you were taken. For a long time we tried to find you but found nothing. In a way it made things easier. You leaving allowed the bond between us to grow even more. Though it was never said … and we only kissed … what we felt for each other." She sighed. "It was love."

Wade slowly nodded and suddenly burst out laughing. "And knowing Quinn he never said anything about it before it was too late!"

Maggie smiled. "For a genius he can be so slow sometimes. He does not even understand his own feelings." The two girls laughed and the tension between them finally lifted. "I know that we'll see him again. You just have to look into Mallory's eyes, beyond his arrogance and childlike behaviour, and can see the essence of our Quinn deep inside."

"And given the choice?"

She shook her head. "Though I want Quinn back so much I couldn't, wouldn't, sacrifice Mallory for him. He is a good person, and a great friend."

Wade nodded her understanding. As she dried her eyes they continued to talk well into the night. They did not notice the door slowly closing shut. Rembrandt smiled to himself and went back to his own room.

The next morning the tension in the group had lightened and Wade and Maggie were speaking quietly to each other over breakfast. Rembrandt watched them, a constant smile on his face, happy that the air had finally been cleared between the two of them. Diana continued to work on her Quinn separation and virus theories whilst Mallory was no where in sight. He had left early in the morning to 'clear his head'.

He stood up and decided to join them at the table. "Mind if I sit down?"

"Go ahead Remmy." Smiled Maggie.

"Now don't go telling me that the two of you are best friends now?" He stirred.

Maggie turned to Wade. "With that whiny slut?"

Wade turned to Maggie. "With that military bitch?"

Rembrandt's smile faded. The pair suddenly burst out laughing. He sighed with relief as he got that they were joking with him and joined in with the laughter.

That afternoon the Sliders assembled in their suite and got themselves ready for the slide. Wade and Diana were sitting by the table, getting to know one another. Maggie and Rembrandt stood in the centre of the room, silently watching the timer count down to the next window. Mallory had still not returned.

"Do you think he's alright?" Asked Remmy.

"Probably gotten himself into some kind of trouble." Maggie sighed.

The door suddenly opened and they all turned to see him enter.

"Where were you?" 

"Just out to clear my head a little." Came the response. As the others stood up to crowd around Remmy, Mallory went over to Wade. "Er, Wade…" She looked up at him. "I got you a little something."

He handed her a wrapped gift and then quickly stepped back before she could respond. Silently she opened it up and found that it was a beautiful brown journal with a golden lock at its side. "Mallory…" She shook her head. "Thank you." She went up to him and kissed him on his cheek.

The others smiled. "Well Wade you'd better brace yourself." Rembrandt turned and activated the timer.

Wade smiled as she saw the silver blue vortex form, a strong wind, blowing out towards them. 

"Shall we?" Smiled Maggie.

Wade continued to watch the swirling gateway for another moment longer and then nodding ran forward, hand in hand with Maggie, they disappeared into the vortex with a flash of light. Diana gathered her equipment and jumped in next.

"That was a good thing you did, Mallory." Said Rembrandt.

He nodded silently and then ran in after the others, Remmy close behind.

Dear Journal,

It has been so long since I last wrote my feelings down on paper but I think that it is finally time to do so once more. If nothing else to at least sort out all the thoughts inside my head. And there is so much to sort out. It's all … it is sometimes almost too much to think about. I know that I will never fully recover or even forget about what the Kromaggs did to me. But I am not going to let that anger grow inside of me. I am going to change it, use it, as a means to keep going.

Maggie … she and I finally had a talk, the first we ever had, the night before and totally cleared the air. I think that I even understand her a lot better. A friendship that took so hard to build the last time seems to be growing strong now. 

And as for Mallory … this one gesture means so much to me. I could feel the 'essence' of both himself and Quinn behind it. And it makes me smile. Maybe one day we will see him again. And maybe I can get to know this Mallory for who he is. As Remmy keeps on saying: 'Only time will tell…'

End. 

  



	6. Magg Incentive

Episode 6: "Magg Incentive."

The last few weeks has been … has been an experience once again. Sliding from world to world we continue to do what we can and try to find a way to separate Quinn from Mallory. I have really gotten to know him the more we slide together. He makes me laugh, is ready to stand up for any of us, and is someone I can now count on as a close friend. 

But it has not all been so good. We have come across some really terrible places, ones that I do not want to return to, reminding us of the dark side of human nature and the dangers of sliding. There was even a time when I wanted to go home. To go back to Earth Prime and search for my family and see if they were ok. But I can't leave the group now. We have to see this all through to the end. Who knows what awaits the end of each slide? But at least we can see it through … together.

Wade

A soft wind passed through the dark alley, lightly pushing at the litter, and at the garbage on the ground. It vanished as quickly as it had arrived and all was still again. The only light came from the dull glow of the moon as nothing else stirred at this time of night. The wind returned, this time with more force, causing paper and cans to be blown away. A bright circle of silver blue light suddenly appeared, swirling fast, and howling fiercely. An old beggar was awoken by the wind that hit against his cardboard home, and so he pulled the blanket from over his head, and had a look.

He gasped in shock at the bright light shining before him. He was stunned for words. There was something so beautiful about it and yet so powerful. A faint noise could be heard carried along with the wind, and soon there was a bright flash of light, the beggar got onto his feet in fright and ran screaming down the alleyway. Diana and Rembrandt were the first to be thrown from the vortex. They were seated inside a blue bumper car which skidded against the ground and stopped when it hit the side of the wall. They continued to laugh and gasp for breath at the same time.

"I … I can't believe we just did that." Laughed Diana.

Rembrandt smiled. "That's the most fun I've had in a long time." 

"Aaghh! …"

They turned towards the vortex and saw the next flash of light, Maggie and Wade appeared strapped inside another bumper car, screaming loudly. The two suddenly burst into a fit of laughter as they hit the side of the other car. The next sound was unmistakable as Mallory came through last, crashing into Wade and Maggie's car, laughing hysterically. With a final howl the vortex faded from sight and the wind died down.

"Next time you guys get any ideas leave me out of it!" Said Maggie smiling, as she wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes.

Mallory grinned. "That has to be more fun than any roller coaster!"

"Yeah, but it was also a lot more scarier." Added Wade.

The group undid their seat belts and climbed out of the bumper cars. They continued to laugh and catch their breath back and then took a look at their surroundings. It was the dead of night and no one else was in sight. Diana took the timer out of her pocket and checked the display. "Looks like we're only here for a few hours."

"Well I don't know about you guys but I'm beat." Said Maggie, stretching and looking around. "The hotel shouldn't be too far from here. We can get a suite."

Gathering their things they left the alleyway and headed out into the street, towards the hotel. 

A few minutes later, in the same dark alleyway, a bright flash of red light suddenly appeared as a new vortex opened. Six Kromagg officers emerged from the gateway and quickly checked their surroundings. 

"Commander!" One of the officers turned towards a Kromagg with more stars on his uniform's neck, this was the Commander. "We've identified this world as Earth 214. The tracking device inside the trans-dimensional facilitator that they carry indicates that they are here somewhere."

The Commander nodded. "Good. I want a perimeter search on the double now! Take Lotha and Kulis with you and pan out."

"Yes Sir!" The officer turned and nodding to two others nearby they ran down the alleyway, weapons drawn.

"Kelthor…"

"Almost ready Sir." A Kromagg officer had taken off his backpack and was setting up a strange device on the ground. "All set." He pressed a sequence of buttons and then a blue pulse of energy shot out and quickly spread through the entire area before disappearing from sight.

"Good." The Commander smiled, showing his pointed teeth. "With the Slide Field in place they will not be able to leave until we find them! The Sliders will soon be in our grasp!"…

What if you found a portal to a parallel universe?

What if you could slide into a thousand different worlds?

Where it's the same year

And you're the same person

But everything else is different

And what if you can't find your way home…

Starring: Cleavent Derricks as Rembrandt Brown

Sabrina Lloyd as Wade Welles

Kari Wuhrer as Maggie Beckett

Robert Floyd as Mallory

And Tembi Locke as Diana Davis

… Sliders!

Diana turned off the taps and the water stopped pouring into the bath. Walking back into the room, she sat down at the table with the others, where they were waiting for the food they had ordered to arrive. "When is it going to get here?" Maggie asked.

"They said in around ten minutes." Answered Mallory, a packet of crisps in his hands. 

"That's way too long." She picked up the remote and turned the television set on. 

"Well there's not much of interest in the papers." Said Rembrandt, folding it and laying it down onto the table. "Just the usual political feuds and gossip. Seems like another dull and boring world."

"You say it like that's a bad thing." Smiled Wade. 

"Nope. I'll take dull and boring anytime."

Wade continued to smile and then saw a dull red light glowing from Diana's pocket. "Diana?…" 

Diana looked up and followed her gaze. Reaching into her pocket she took out the timer and saw the red light that was flashing around the display. "It's never done that before…"

"Did you press anything?" Asked Maggie.

"No. Nothing." Diana looked the timer over. "It seems operational but that light is flashing. I don't know what it means."

"Maybe the power is running out." Seeing the concerned looks caused Mallory to stay quiet. 

"Well he's got a point." Added Rembrandt. "We don't know much about this Kromagg timer except for the bits and pieces that Claire's researches have found out. For all we know it could be signalling exactly that."

"I just hope that there is something about it in here." Diana reached for her backpack and took out the translated notes on the timer. Nodding the others helped her to leaf through the notes for anything that looked relevant. This new development starting to cause concern.

The Kromagg Commander lifted up a device that he had retrieved from his backpack and searched for all the information that they had on Earth 214. After browsing through the files he put away the device and went over to an officer named Kelthor. "How large is the radius for the Slide Field?"

"The Slide Field should hold for up to a 250 mile radius. Anything outside that perimeter and they should be able to slide out. But not to worry…" He held up a scanning device. "The resonance of a wormhole has been picked up here. They should be nearby."

"Good." He turned to another officer. "Set up the trans-dimensional communications unit. Our superiors will be very eager to hear on our progress." 

The Commander watched as the officer carried out his orders and the device was set up. The communications unit was bulky and only allowed for vocal speech by generating a tiny wormhole that carried the signal to the connected world. As he activated it the voice of his superiors came through.

"You must know how very important this mission is." Hissed the voice.

The Commander nodded. "I do. Do not worry, we will find and capture the Sliders."

"You had better!" Shouted the voice. "Rembrandt Brown can not be allowed to continue carrying the virus to other conquered worlds! He must be stopped at all costs. And Quinn Mallory as well! It will not take him long to figure out a way to stop us once and for all!" He paused. "The others we will break and obtain the information that they carry. Though Wade Welles we wish to be returned in tact so that we can … analyse her."

"I understand." The Commander relaxed as the voice vanished and the transmission ended.

"Awaiting your orders Sir." Said an officer.

"We wait until the scouts have returned. Then we press forward."

"Guys, I think I've found it." The group stopped what they were doing and turned to Wade. "It does not say much but it does say here that the red light around the display shows that the timer can not be activated."

"Can't be activated?" Questioned Diana. 

Wade handed the papers to her then turned back to the group. "It mentions that the possible cause for the timer not opening a vortex is if some kind of field has been erected that will stop the slide."

"She's right." Said Diana, looking over the papers. "The red light signals that a Slide Field has been erected. Opening a vortex within the field radius would be impossible."

"But it does not look like this world has sliding technology." Stated Rembrandt.

"Then someone else has activated the field." 

The group turned towards the door as they heard some footsteps.

"A bit late." Sighed Mallory. "Must be our food." Getting up he went over to the door. It suddenly burst wide open and he was thrown back. They gasped in shock as they witnessed six armed Kromaggs rush into the room.

"Kromaggs!" Shouted Wade.

Maggie quickly got up off of her chair to defend herself but thought better of it as a Kromagg aimed a weapon at her. She turned around to see the others and saw that they were all in a similar position. They were trapped. Looking forward she saw what looked like the Commander as he began laughing and walked up to them. "Who are you?" She demanded.

The Commander turned to her. "Ah, Maggie Beckett a pleasure to finally meet you." She fell silent. He turned his gaze and stared at the others. "Wade Welles, Rembrandt Brown…" He stopped when he got to the last two. "But we don't know much about you two … yet."

"The name's Mallory." 

"No." Cautioned Maggie.

He got the hint and bit his tongue.

"Mallory?" The Commander looked puzzled. "As in Quinn and Colin Mallory?" A wide smile spread across his lips. "Interesting."

Mallory wished that he had never spoken.

"The Slide Field … so it was you." Said Diana.

He laughed. "Where are my manners? My name is Chronun. I am in charge of this Seeker unit." He motioned to his men as they pushed the Sliders back down into their seats. "We have been tracking your progress ever since you reactivated the trans-dimensional facilitator that you acquired."

Diana glanced over to the table and at the Kromagg timer that was resting on it. One of the officers went over and handed it to the Commander. "Of course." She shook her head. "I should have known that you would be able to track your own technology."

"You Sliders have been a thorn in the Dynasty's side for far too long." His smile faded as he turned angry. "Now, where is Quinn Mallory? And where is his brother?" The group hesitated. "I will not ask you again: Where is Quinn Mallory?!"

"I…" Mallory began to speak but Wade cut him off.

"He's dead." She watched the Commander's expression and tried to force tears into her eyes. "Quinn and Colin died a few worlds back." She saw him digest this information.

"Hmm I see. Of course we'll have plenty of time to see if what you tell me is true. When we take you back to our camps and pry the information from you!"

"No!" Wade shouted out. "You … you can't!"

The Commander smiled. "Do not worry Miss Welles … my superiors have other plans for you." Wade's face turned pale. "And as for you…" He turned to Remmy. "Carrying around a lethal virus in your blood stream, we have heard of what you did, driving us from your world. Did you think that we could afford to let you live? And be assured that Quinn Mallory, wherever he is, will eventually be found … and executed!" As he turned to leave he stopped. "We slide out in the morning. I advise that you get some rest."

As he turned and left the room with two of his men, the others kept a watch on the Sliders, all hope seemed to be lost.

"What are we going to do?" Whispered Wade. "We've got to think of a way to get out of here!"

"It's ok Wade." Said Maggie. "We'll think of something. There's no way that we're gonna let them take us to one of their camps!"

"Well our numbers are almost the same. But they have the advantage." Said Mallory. "They have weapons and we don't."

"I think that we should wait until morning. There isn't much that we can do now. We might have a better chance if we wait until the last possible moment and then make our escape." Maggie turned to Wade. "I know that this is hard … no … maybe I won't ever be able to truly understand all that you have been through. All I can do is try, and this is the only option that I can see."

Wade slowly nodded her understanding.

"Try and get some rest Wade." Said Mallory. "It will be alright." 

She took another look at the Kromaggs that were guarding the door and then tried to get comfortable in the chair. A cold fear was wrapped around her heart. Fear of being taken away by the Kromaggs again, fear of being taken away from her friends, fear of losing everything. She might have escaped once … but she could not see it happening a second time.

Rembrandt slowly opened his eyes. He tried to move as he felt a painful cramp all over his body and saw the light that was streaming through the window. It must still be early in the morning. Hearing a cough he turned and saw the two Kromagg officers that continued to stand guard by the door. Looking around the table he saw that the others were all asleep, all except for Wade.

"You could not sleep much either huh?"

Hearing his whisper she turned. "Remmy. I … I kept thinking back to when we were held together in that cell."

He sighed. "Yeah, me too."

"I just don't know if, don't know if I will be able to survive in there again. I just don't know!"

Rembrandt moved over to her. "Sshh. You won't have to find out. Because I won't let it happen! No matter how things turn out today I'm never gonna let them take you away again!" The two friends hugged tightly. 

Groaning slightly, the others awoke, and soon remembered the situation that they were in. Once fully awake they tried to figure out a course of action.

"Well we've got to get out of this room first." Stated Maggie. "Then get our timer back and disable the Slide Field. Looks like that's up to you, Diana. Do you remember how much time we had?"

Diana thought back and then looked at her watch. "It will be a bit of a guess but I'd say we have around 35 minutes till the slide."

"That doesn't give us much time. Taking out those two is going to be the hardest part."

"We need some kind of a distraction." Offered Wade.

"… I think I've got just the thing."

Lotha nodded to his companion as he saw Mallory and Rembrandt leave the group and walk towards them. He lifted up his weapon and then got up from leaning against the wall. "What do you want, human?" He said in disgust and then smiled. "Offering me your eyes on a platter?" His companion laughed.

"Actually we have some information that might interest the Commander." Said Remmy. "Like on Quinn Mallory's real whereabouts."

"I am willing to make a deal with him and tell him all that he wants to know in exchange for letting me go." Said Mallory.

"What?!" Shouted Rembrandt. "I thought that we were in this together."

"Sorry Remmy but they would have killed you anyway."

"Why you…?!" Rembrandt stepped forward and began to fight with Mallory.

"Stop that!" Shouted Lotha. Seeing that he was not being listened to he handed his weapon over to Kulis and then tried to break them apart. "That's enough -" His words were cut short as they both suddenly stopped fighting, and turned to him, punching him back.

Kulis tried to raise his weapon but he had not seen Maggie coming from the side. She knocked the weapons out of his hands and then knocked him unconscious. Maggie quickly picked up one of the strange Kromagg weapons and handed the other to Rembrandt.

"That went better than I thought." Smiled Mallory.

"No time to celebrate yet." Said Maggie. "We still have to get the timer back."

The group rushed out of the room but stopped as they stepped onto the staircase and saw the Commander and three of his men waiting downstairs. The Commander's expression was one of pure shock as he saw the Sliders. "Stop them!" He shouted. "Shoot to kill if you have to! Just leave one of them alive!"

Maggie quickly led the team to the banister and they all ducked behind it as it provided cover from the fire of their weapons. It was not long before Maggie found out what was the trigger and began returning fire on the Kromaggs.

"Maggie we don't have a lot of time!" Shouted Diana over the weapon's fire.

"Ok. Remmy, cover me!" Maggie stood up and ran towards the stairs. The Kromaggs followed her, allowing Rembrandt to pick two of them off, as Maggie took out the third. Keeping her weapon on the Commander, Maggie descended the stairs, and retrieved the timer from him. "Looks like you lose Chronus. Now, where's the device that you are using to generate the Slide Field?"

He laughed. "You will never get it out of me."

Diana checked the silver timer. "We have less time than I thought! We've got just under 16 minutes!"

"Where is it?" Maggie insisted. He did not say a word.

"Wait." She turned as Diana spoke again. "One of them should have on them a remote device to turn the Slide Field off. It makes sense that they would have one so that they could deactivate it when they were ready to slide out!"

Wade and Mallory began checking the three dead Kromagg officers. "Is this it?" Asked Mallory, holding up a strange device. 

Diana checked it over. "I think…" She pressed a button and then checked the timer. "That did it! The Slide Field has been deactivated!"

"You will not get away with this!" Hissed Chronus.

"Oh no?" Maggie stepped forward and whacked the weapon over his face, causing the Magg to fall to the ground. "Let's go guys!"

The group ran as fast as they could away from the hotel and through the busy street. It was only when Diana mentioned that they needed to stop did they slow and find an empty alleyway. Rembrandt watched as she quickly retrieved the tools from her backpack and began taking apart the timer. "Diana?"

"From what the Commander told us their tracking device isn't like the one that we have. They don't track the actual wormhole but the timer itself. There must be some kind of tracking chip embedded inside. I've got to find it!"

"Should you be doing that so close to the slide?" 

"We don't have much choice Remmy." Said Wade. "They could just track us to the next world."

Maggie and Mallory kept guard by the end of the alleyway. "You'd better hurry! We've got company!" 

Diana spotted the small blinking device inside the delicate electronics of the timer and carefully pulled it out. She then began putting the timer back together and checked the display. "Just in time!" She waited for a small moment and then activated the timer.

The stream of energy shot out and a fierce wind began to blow. Rembrandt waited until the silver blue vortex fully formed and then together with Wade they jumped through. Diana called out to the others and as they got nearer went through herself. 

"Ready Maggie?" Asked Mallory.

"Ready!" 

They ran forward and one after the other jumped into the swirling vortex, disappearing in a flash of light. The journey between worlds was as rough as always, with many complicated twists and turns, but eventually the familiar bright white light appeared from up ahead, signalling the end of the slide. Maggie fell through the vortex last and landed on some soft grass. Looking up she found that they had slid into some kind of grassy field. 

"Looks like Diana saves the day again." Smiled Rembrandt. "Thanks to you they won't be able to track us anymore." 

Diana smiled. "I'm just glad that I was able to take out the tracking device before the timer hit zero."

Maggie walked over to a relieved Wade and placed her arm around her. "You ok?"

"I will be."

"Well. I'm not surprised that we've landed in the middle of nowhere." Stated Mallory, looking around at the hills and mountains. "Since for the last few slides we've been right in the middle of the city. Do you think there is any civilisation here?"

"Who knows." Said Rembrandt. "But I'm sure that we'll find out."

Mallory smiled. "Why Remmy, do I detect a hint of an explorer in you?"

Laughing the others watched Rembrandt stretch his limps and breathe in the clean fresh air.

"Kulis!" Shouted the Commander. "The Sliders! Have you pinpointed their location?!" 

"Commander I … I don't understand. According to this they are still here!"

Puzzled, Chronus looked around, and then suddenly spotted the small tracking device that was blinking on the ground. Picking it up he crushed it in his hands. His superiors were not going to be pleased.

End.


	7. Unstuck Reality

Episode 7: "Unstuck Reality."

Rembrandt yawned loudly, rubbing his red eyes. He had been staring at the computer screen for a long time now and needed a break. Getting up he looked over at the others on the table, they were all in deep concentration, as they browsed through the files that they had downloaded from the Kromagg timer. They had been searching through the list of worlds, using the computers in the local library, in the hope that they could find an Earth advanced enough to help Diana in her research to separate the Quinns.

As he looked over at Mallory he could see the sullen expression that was on his face. His usual cheerful smile had gone and he had been quiet for some time now. Remmy knew that he must be thinking about something very important. "You ok Mallory?"

Mallory lowered his eyes for a moment before speaking. "Yeah. I'm ok. Just been thinking about things. If Quinn and I will ever separate, and if Diana and I will ever see home again…"

"I know how you feel." Sighed Wade. "It took us almost three years before Quinn could finally get us back home. And when we finally did to see it … to see it like the way it was. You just can't give up hope, because you will see it again, it just might take a while."

Diana looked up from her console. "I am positive that I am close to finding a way to separate Quinn from you. Dr Geiger was telling the truth when he told us that you are linked like Siamese twins but I still think that the bond can be broken. I just need that world so that they can help me complete my research. Not to mention that they will have the necessary technology needed to carry it out."

Maggie slowly smiled. The prospect of getting Quinn back was brighter than ever.

"Come on." Rembrandt called to Mallory. "Looks like you could do with a break as well."

Nodding he stood up. Together with Remmy he left the library, and they stepped outside for some fresh air, while the others continued to look through the files.

"Ugh…" 

Colin Mallory fell onto his knees and held his stomach tight. A pain erupted through his entire body almost paralysing him and driving him unconscious. As he opened up his mouth he spat out a thick trail of blood and wiped the remnant away with his sleeves. He could hear the many voices of people all around him, concerned about his condition, unsure of what to do. 

He lifted up his head, sweat falling down the sides of his face, and tried to tell them that there was nothing that they could do. There was nothing that anyone could do. The siren of an ambulance drifted along with the wind, but he knew that it was useless, the process had already started. 

The crowd suddenly gasped in shock as they saw Colin begin to shift slightly out of phase with everything. Strange energy particles danced along his body, causing the shifting to get worse, until they heard him scream out in pain. The next few moments happened so fast that they could hardly comprehend what had happened. One moment he was on his knees, phasing in and out of reality, and then the next something seemed to pull at the very genetic makeup of his body. A bright flash of light shone out … and he was gone. 

In this out of phase state Colin could feel the very matter of a vortex all around him. He could feel its energy, its raw untapped power, as it coursed through his entire body. As the pain continued to get worse, another light engulfed him, and when he finally opened his eyes he found himself in the middle of a street. The pain slowly subsided and his body returned to its normal state. He had been pulled into another dimension.

Finally collapsing, his head hit the hard ground, and he lay there crying in pain as blood seeped out of his nose. There was no point in seeking medical attention, as it would not be long before it started again, and he was pulled from this world. Colin slowly closed his eyes. This was his reality, being pulled from one world to the next, as the 'unstuck' state slowly ripped him apart…

What if you found a portal to a parallel universe?

What if you could slide into a thousand different worlds?

Where it's the same year

And you're the same person

But everything else is different

And what if you can't find your way home…

Starring: Cleavent Derricks as Rembrandt Brown

Sabrina Lloyd as Wade Welles

Kari Wuhrer as Maggie Beckett

Robert Floyd as Mallory

And Tembi Locke as Diana Davis

… Sliders!

Colin slowly opened his eyes. Light droplets of rain had landed on his face, rousing him into consciousness. Trying to move his aching body, he quickly turned to his side, as he felt vomit rush up into his throat and through his mouth. He waited until it had passed before spitting out the last of it and looking around at his surroundings. He found himself in an alleyway, up above the dark clouds were beginning to release their stored water, and he could see people rushing to get indoors before it got worse.

It suddenly hit his mind that he did not remember arriving here. But this was not the first time that something like this had happened. While he was unconscious he must have still been pulled from that other world and thrown into this one. His body still hurting he realised that it must have been recent. Pulling himself over to a puddle that was forming Colin gazed at his face.

His normally clear skin now looked weary and dirty, dark bags hung under his bloodshot eyes, and a few premature wrinkles lined his face. As he moved his scruffy brown hair out from his eyes he could see a few white strands in them. It was obvious what was happening to himself. The 'unstuck' state was slowly killing him. Every time that he was pulled into another dimension it caused the pain to increase and soon it would not be long before he could not endure it any longer.

He had pieced together what had happened to him some time ago. He worked out that during the slide another vortex had purposely intersected with their own. The resulting effect caused his body to shift out of normal phase, and he had become 'unstuck'. He had also come up with a theory to reverse it. If he could only get his hands on another timer and opened up a vortex while he was being pulled, out of phase through dimensions, it would realign his body. But finding another timer was impossible. His time on each world so erratic that there was not enough time to even search.

As he lay there on the ground he ignored the rain that poured heavily all around him and tried to gather his thoughts. He still held a faint hope that Quinn would somehow save him, but that hope faded with every slide.

"Uh… come on Colin. Think!" He forced himself up onto his feet and tried to focus through the throbbing pain in his head. "There has got to be another way!" But try as he might Colin was not able to come up with an alternate course of action. As the tears came to his eyes he slumped back down onto the floor. "Quinn! Maggie! Rembrandt! Where are you?!…"

He sat there for a long time, the tears streaming down his face, and as the familiar pain grabbed a hold of him he screamed out, vanishing once more into the multi-verse.

The pain seared through his entire being, indescribable, soul destroying. He continued to scream out as he was dragged through the multi-verse and pulled towards another dimension. As he opened up his eyes, he could feel himself slowing phasing onto this new Earth, his body temporarily regaining its normal physical state.

It took him a long time to recover. His breathing became normal, his body feeling solid once more, but the pain was still present, reduced to a minimum. He began to cough uncontrollably and it seemed to weaken his already frail body structure.

"Over eight different worlds in the course of a few hours. It is getting worse…" 

Wiping away the sweat and blood from his face he slowly stood up and tried to walk. He could see the glances of passer-bys, dismissing him for just another drunk, as he tried to find somewhere to help clear his head. He stumbled through the busy streets and finally found a Café. He sat himself down in the seat, and closed his eyes, trying to regain his strength. 

"What would you like?" He heard a female voice that seemed to be directed towards him.

"Coffee, black, no sugar please."

"It will only be a moment." He heard her walk away.

Colin waited until the coffee arrived before reopening his eyes. He sipped at the hot substance and then once again let his thoughts wonder. As always they returned to his friends. No matter how worse his condition got Colin continued to think about them. He missed them so much, more than he could put into words, and he could not believe that after finally finding his brother they were separated once more. He also had no idea what had happened to them after that dreaded slide. If they were still all right, trying to somehow find him in the multi-verse, or if some other fate had befell them.

Colin sighed. "It is time to finally accept it. I am never going to ever see them again. I only have a few slides left in me…" The sudden pain seemed to emphasise his words. "I have to stop wasting what time I have trying to find a way to survive … and try to find a way to say goodbye."

The waitress returned to his table, and screamed out in shock, dropping the glasses she was holding, causing them to shatter on the ground. She witnessed the sight of Colin shifting in and out of phase before screaming out in pain and finally vanishing in a bright light.

"Are you ok?" Colin looked up to see a beggar looking over at him. 

As the pain continued through his body, Colin took a step forward, but the pain was crippling and he fell to the ground. "Ugh!…" 

"I … I have some aspirin?"

Colin looked over at the vial that the man passed to him and he scanned the label. It looked pretty safe. Normally he would not have accepted it but the pain was so fierce that he had to take some of the aspirin. He rested for a long time and then made himself get up once more after wiping away more blood from his face. As his feet held on the ground he thanked the man and made his way down the street. 

Colin stumbled along the pavement in a daze, and walked onto the middle of the road, falling onto it. "… Quinn, Maggie, Rembrandt … I will never forget you…"

Rembrandt turned to Mallory. For the last few hours they had been getting some rest and were now heading back to the library. "Mallory, there is something that I have been meaning to say to you for some time now."  
"What is it Remmy?"

"As you know it took us over three years to finally make it back home. Three years of sliding continuously. I don't have to tell you that it took its toll … on all of us." Rembrandt thought back to those times, years ago, and of the Professor. "What I'm trying to say is that if you ever get the chance to go home again: take it."

Mallory shook his head. "I could never leave you guys."

"But that chance might not come back again. You have to take it. You and Diana should. Take it and rebuild your lives."

"And what if that time happens before Quinn and I are separated?"

Rembrandt fell silent. "The others and I will keep sliding and try to find a way. Once we find it we will slide back for you."

"And what about the timer? You'll need Diana to deal with all the problems."  
"I … I haven't figured it all out yet."

Mallory smiled. "I appreciate what you're trying to say Remmy. I do want to go home, but given the chance, I still wouldn't. I came on this journey so that you could find a way to separate Quinn from me and I won't stop until that has been done. After that? Who knows, maybe then I will start thinking of going home." 

Rembrandt smiled and then followed after Mallory. He suddenly stopped when he saw a man in the middle of the road fall onto his knees in pain. His hands were on his head, as if trying to keep it together. With a scream he started to shift in and out of phase with everything. "What the hell?!" The man looked up in pain and that was when Remmy saw his face. "Colin?!" He rushed over to him, but as he reached out, his hands passed right through him. "Huh?!"

"Rem – Remmy?" Colin forced out through the pain. 

"Colin! Don't try to speak. I'll get you some help."

Remmy stepped back as Colin screamed out loud. His body seemed to be pulled apart by something and then he vanished in the bright light that appeared. When the light faded there was not a trace of him. He had gone. Turning to look behind Rembrandt saw the others running up to him. "It was Colin … he was … in so much pain!"

Diana stepped forward. "The effects of the 'unstuck' state. It must have been tearing him apart!"

"Colin…" Mallory struggled to find words.

"Is there a possibility that he is still alive?" Asked Maggie.

Diana shook her head. "From the looks of things he could not have survived any more of it. If only we had found him sooner…"

"There was nothing that we could have done."  
"… I could have tried to build a containment field and anchor him in one dimension or…"

"Diana." Mallory placed his hands on her shoulder. "He would have been pulled from this dimension long before you had a chance to build it. There was nothing anyone could have done…"

In another dimension…

Amanda Mallory slowly looked out of the window and at the war torn world that was before her. She could see the signs of battle far out on the outer perimeter of the city. The Kromaggs were growing bolder with each passing day. But it would not be long before they had to call off the attack and retreat until reinforcements could arrive. At least with the Slide Field up they could not gain any help from their counterparts on other worlds.

"Amanda, something is trying to pass through the Slide Field!"

Amanda quickly went over to the technician and glanced at his screen. "Can you identify the quantum signature?"

"Not possible. For some reason the signature is fragmented. All I can tell you is that it is human." He turned to look at her. "Also from these readings the gateway is different than usual. I'm not even sure if it is a vortex at all but it has the same properties. Shall I let it through?"

She thought for a second. "Ok. I want you to start de-fragmenting that quantum signature as fast as you can."

"Right."

"Taylor, I want you to backtrack the signal and find out the co-ordinates of the world that it came from. John, re-route the gateway into the main holding cell and alert security to meet me there right now." Amanda turned and quickly left the control room. As she ran down the steps, taking two at a time, she let the hope rise up inside of her. This had been the first vortex activity in months that had tried to form on Kromagg Prime and she was almost positive of what it could mean. It had to be them! But she had to be careful; it could also be a Kromagg trick.

She arrived at the holding cell to see the security personnel armed and aiming at the cell where the gateway was being re-routed to. They all tightened their grips on their weapons as they saw a point of light appear. Human screams echoed from the point of light and she took a step back when she saw a man shifting in and out of phase, and in deep pain. 

"Amanda, this is Rick." As Amanda stared at the form that was trying to phase onto this dimension she turned to the speaker on the wall. "We have de-fragmented the quantum signature … it is that of Colin Mallory!" 

"Uh!" Amanda let out a sob and placed her hand over her mouth as the technician told her the news. She could not believe it. It was Colin … her son. 

"From what I am picking up: his body is in some kind of out of phase state."

Amanda looked up. "The 'unstuck effect'?"

"It could be. Once he has phased in, the Slide Field should keep him anchored here."

"Rick … I want a medical team down here right now!"

"They are on their way."

Amanda moved away from the speaker, and motioning for security to get back, she ran towards her son. "Colin!" 

Colin cried out in pain as his body slowly returned into its normal state. As he opened his eyes he could not believe that he was looking up at the face of his mother. He tried to speak but he only brought up more blood. As the pain caused him to black out he faded into unconsciousness. 

"Colin!"…

The Sliders decided to wait until the slide before they performed a small ceremony for the passing of their friend. They travelled through the gateway, emerging onto the new world, and then turned back to face the swirling silver blue vortex. 

"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. That saved, a wretch, like me. I once was lost but now am found. Was blind, but now, can see…" 

As Rembrandt continued to sing, the others stood beside him, and one by one they each threw a flower into the gateway. They did not know where the flowers would end up, in a kind of symbolic gesture, to the life that all Sliders led.

"In a way I will always think of you as my own brother." Said Mallory. He threw his flower into the vortex last and then it closed. "I know that Quinn will miss you so much. And all of us will never forget you…"

The group slowly walked away to confront the new earth that lay before them. As a tear fell from Mallory's eyes he could not be certain if they were his own … or Quinn's.

End.


	8. Last Chance

Episode 8: "Last Chance."

A transparent distortion slowly appeared in the air, shimmering slightly, and grew until it formed into a swirling silver blue vortex. A faint sound came from the depths of the gateway and with a flash of light Mallory was thrown from it and landed on the soft grass. He instinctively rolled over to his left, as Diana and Rembrandt appeared, falling onto the place where he was a moment ago. It was not long before Wade and Maggie appeared in quick succession and then the vortex began to close. With a final howl it disappeared from sight.

"I don't ever want to go through that again." Said Maggie, as she slowly got up. 

Mallory shook his head. "Well, if you and Wade had just played along…"

"You must be kidding." Joined in Wade. "You wanted us to just blend in! With a world that was stuck in the dark ages and still treated women like slaves."  
"Hey, I'm not saying that I agreed with them. But like you're always telling me: 'we can't change every world that we land on'. I'm just saying that it would have been easier if you guys had acted the part. Instead we all got into a lot of trouble."

Rembrandt laughed. "The look on that man's face when Maggie talked up to him. It was priceless."

She snorted. "He would have preferred it if I had a collar around my neck with a leash leading to his hand. I sure set him right."

Diana smiled and then checked the timer. "Just over 17 hours here." Putting the timer back into her pocket she finally took the chance to look around. "… Where are we?"

Looking around the Sliders found themselves in some kind of park. Soft grass was beneath their feet, large trees lined the cobbled path, and a small pond with a fountain could be seen flowing in the distance. But what had caught their eye was the see-through dome that seemed to encompass the entire area.

"Is this some kind of nature preserve?" Suggested Wade. 

"Looks like it." Mallory gazed upwards. "And I'm guessing as no-one else is around we shouldn't be here."

"Well let's take a look around and find a way out of here." Said Maggie.

Following the laid out path in front of them it took them through the centre of the garden and towards the back. As they continued to walk they noticed that the dome was getting lower, indicating that they must be nearing the edge of it, and the exit. A door soon came into view and slid open as they approached it, allowing them to leave. It was only when they stepped outside did they suddenly stop and turn to each other.

Diana placed her hand over her mouth. "This is … amazing!" Turning to the others she saw that they echoed her shocked, amazed, and awe-struck expression.

Ahead of them loomed a vast futuristic city. Buildings made out of a strange blue glass towered up towards the sky, a network of inter-linked pathways made its way upwards and outwards into every corner, strange robotic devices flew through the sky and drifted in and out of sight, and a faint mechanical hum came to their ears. They could only imagine the level of technology that this world possessed.

"Wow." Wade whispered, speechless.

"It's so advanced." Stated Mallory. "Looks like we've found the world that we've been looking for." 

"Guys." 

The group turned to see Rembrandt pointing to a strange structure a few feet away from them. It was some kind of raised platform, made out of a shiny silver alloy, a control panel to one side of it. The reason for the observation was that the platform was beginning to glow faintly. Suddenly there was a flash of light and a man dressed all in white appeared before them. 

Maggie took a step back. "W-who are you?"

"How…" Diana looked on, amazed.

"Please, there is no cause for worry." He reassured them. "My name is Lang, Dr Kevin Lang. I am here to welcome you … sliders." The group suddenly turned to each other. "I humbly welcome you to our Earth."…

What if you found a portal to a parallel universe?

What if you could slide into a thousand different worlds?

Where it's the same year

And you're the same person

But everything else is different

And what if you can't find your way home…

Starring: Cleavent Derricks as Rembrandt Brown

Sabrina Lloyd as Wade Welles

Kari Wuhrer as Maggie Beckett

Robert Floyd as Mallory

And Tembi Locke as Diana Davis

… Sliders!

The group stood in silence for a while before Maggie finally spoke. "You called us Sliders. But how did you -"

"With the level of technology that we've seen they must have discovered sliding a long time ago." Offered Diana.

"A correct observation." Smiled Lang. "For the past two decades my society has been rapidly advancing technologically. It was a Professor Orion who first made the journey to parallel worlds. He was the envy of the scientific community. When we picked up the energy matter of a vortex a few minutes ago we knew that some travellers must be passing through. So I was sent to greet you and show you around my world."

"Show us around?" Asked Wade, still in a state of shock and amazement.

"We enjoy meeting new people from parallel worlds and love to indulge in an exchange of information and knowledge. It is how we better ourselves and learn more. So, if you would be so kind." He stepped back onto the platform and indicated to them to join him.

Diana walked over to the platform and began studying it. "Some kind of transportation device?" She asked, intrigued.

"It's called a Trans-locator. It can transport physical matter over a manner of distances and reassembles them once at the destination."

"Hold on, Diana." Maggie stepped forward. "You're not just going to jump on and get your molecules ripped apart are you? We don't even know anything about him." 

Lang nodded his head. "She is correct. We do not know much about each other yet. But this is the whole objective of this cultural exchange." He stepped off of the platform. "Then perhaps you will feel more comfortable walking until a level of trust can be gained."

Maggie nodded her agreement. "Sorry, it's just that we've been fooled by a lot of things in the past. We've got to be careful."

"Say no more. I understand. This way please."

Mallory shrugged his shoulders and followed after Lang and Diana as they started to walk. Rembrandt and Wade followed after, but Maggie was still cautious, so she stayed towards the back of the group where she could keep an eye on him. Despite this Maggie joined in with the others in hardly containing her awe and wonder at the sights that she saw. The streets were clean, and void of any type of car or vehicle, and strange devices could be seen held by children and adults alike. She looked ahead to see Diana bombarding Lang with a thousand questions.

"So you must have a really precise sub atomic analyser to be able to map and break down a subject's molecular structure."

"We do. It took our top scientists several years to be able to develop the necessary technology but we finally succeeded in creating a Trans-locator that was able to break down the complex molecular structure of humans." Lang stopped and turned to the group. "May I ask a question?"

"Sure."

"We noticed something peculiar upon your arrival. We detected four solid quantum signatures but the fifth one seemed to be meshed and integrated into a sixth signature. I can tell you that it caused a lot of speculation and thought among us as we have never encountered something like this before."

"That would be me." Sighed Mallory.

"I was actually hoping that you could assist us in our problem." Said Diana. 

Lang smiled. "That is what we here thrive on. Encountering and solving new problems. We will be more than happy to assist you in any way possible. Ah, we're here." Pressing his thumb against a panel the large double doors opened and he entered the building that they had arrived at.

"Diana." Maggie motioned for her. Whilst the others entered the building she took her to one side. "Are you sure we can trust him? Maybe I am being too suspicious but we have to be careful here."

"We've got to trust others at some point, Maggie." She replied. "And this world seems to have both the technology and the minds to help me separate Quinn from Mallory."

"Just be careful, ok."

Diana nodded and then hurried to catch up with the others. Maybe she really was being too suspicious. But on the other hand someone had to keep a level head here. And it looked like Diana was too caught up in Lang and his advanced world to be that someone.

Wade watched Mallory as he looked out of the window. It had been several hours since they had arrived here, Diana was off with Lang discussing what had happened and her theory to separate them, while the rest of them waited in a side room. Rembrandt was snoring softly in a chair and Maggie was trying to find her way around a computer terminal to find some information.

"Find anything interesting?" She asked.

"Not much." Sighed Maggie. She turned off the console and joined Wade by the couch. "Seems that this world is pretty much how Lang described it."

"You thought he was lying."

"… I don't know Wade. It's just that everything seems so perfect somehow. I'm just waiting for something to go wrong."

"Yeah. But you've just got to keep being positive because if this all does work out we will be getting Quinn back." 

Mallory turned his gaze away from the magnificent view. "It would be great to finally have my own body back."

"It must be a weird feeling. To know that you're going to see someone for the first time even though you have already shared his thoughts and memories."

"It is."

The door suddenly opened and they turned to see Diana and Lang enter. The group were about to smile but they saw the expression that was on both of their faces.

"Diana, what is it?" Asked Maggie.

"With Lang's help I was able to finalise my theory. Using a modified version of the Trans-locators and their sub molecular analysers we will be able to lock on to the two different quantum signatures in order to differentiate their separate molecular structures and reassemble them both back into their normal bodies."

"So why the long face?" Smiled Wade.

She shook her head. "We've been analysing and reanalysing the data over and over but it still points to the same conclusion. We can not safely predict that Mallory will survive the separation." She turned to face him. "If we bring Quinn back, then Mallory will die."

Mallory slowly sat down into a chair. "I'll … die?"

Maggie turned to face away from the group and hid the tear that slid down her cheeks. She hated herself. Hated her gut instinct for being right. Everything was going horribly wrong.

"So what do we now?" Said Mallory, slowly.

"What do you mean do?" Asked Rembrandt. "We're not going to do anything."

"But Quinn … this is your last chance to get him back…"

Diana shook her head. "If you go through with this the chances are that you will die."  
Mallory stood up. "Well it's a risk that I am willing to take. I've taken his life. I've taken all that he was. It's time for me to give it back. And if this is the only way then I'll do it."

Wade could not believe what she was hearing. "Mallory?!"

"I promised you guys that I would slide with you so that you could get him back. This is your chance."

"Stop it!" Wade reached out and slapped Mallory across the face and he fell silent, stunned. "Just stop this! How can you say all that? I as much as anyone want Quinn back. But I would never … ever … exchange your life for his."

"I…"

Maggie wiped the tear from her eyes. "You are a part of us Mallory. This may have all started because of a promise that you made but its more than that now. Your life means more than that to us and it should to you too."

"I'm…" Mallory was lost for words. 

"We just have to except that he is gone." Sighed Remmy. "But we have gained a valuable friend. That's you Mallory. Don't ever just throw your life away like it means nothing. Because it means everything to us." 

'I can't believe it. After getting so close the chance to finally get Quinn back leads to a path that we can't take. If Mallory went through with the procedure, then he would die. It has hit us all hard. Diana is frantic in going over her research and searching for another solution, Maggie and Rembrandt have been silent: lost in old memories of Quinn, and Mallory … he is not sure what to say or do. Neither am I. But at the same time it has only strengthened our resolve to get him back. We'll find another way … I'm sure of it."

Wade

Wade put down her pen and looked up as the door suddenly opened and they turned to see Lang enter with several scientists along side of him. "I think that we have seen and heard enough."

The group looked around, puzzled.

"I am so sorry that we have had to do this Diana but like Maggie said we also have had to be careful."

"I … I don't understand." She replied. "This was some kind of test?"

"It was. You see we long ago agreed to freely share our knowledge and technology to all those who needed it but only if those people would use it wisely and for good purposes."

Maggie began to put it together. "So you manipulated the data somehow so that Diana would think that by bringing Quinn back Mallory would die."

"Yes. If you had decided that you could take Mallory's life in exchange for another then we would not have helped you. How could you be good people if you were willing to do such a thing."

"Then you mean…" Mallory stood up. "It can be done."

Lang smiled. "It can and with a high degree of success. I just hope that you can all forgive us but this countermeasure has been necessary in the past. We want to share our technology but not with those who will easily misuse it." 

Mallory smiled and then turned to Diana. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's do this!"

Diana nodded and they all followed Lang into the lab.

With the help of Lang, Diana checked over every single piece of equipment, before she would give the go ahead for the separation. Technicians were putting the final touches to the two Trans-locators in the centre of the room, both with the modified sub-molecular analysers. Finally ready to go she turned to Mallory. 

"I think we're ready."

"See you all in a few." He smiled. He turned as they all wished him good luck and stepped onto one of the Trans-locators. "I'm ready … do it."

Lang sat down by the computer console and then started the procedure. The platform hummed and then a bright light flashed from it as the scanning sequence begun. It was only moments before a detailed atomic map of Mallory's body was on the screen. Diana joined him by the console and started the second scan that would pick up the genes belonging to Quinn's distinctive quantum signature. 

"Got it." She said. She saw Lang's puzzled look as he spotted something and answered his question. "Remember I told you about the skin grafts that Professor Geiger took off parallel Quinn's to help Mallory walk again."

Nodding his understanding he turned his attention back to the task at hand. "Now comes the precise part." Seeing that the technicians were on standby he started the next phase. He locked onto Mallory and then began to Trans-locate his body. But instead of moving his actual body he created a second lock-on to all of Quinn's molecular structure and attempted to reassemble him on the other platform.

"Quinn!" Wade looked on as she began to see an out of phase body appear. It was becoming clearer by the second and was undoubtedly Quinn.

"Come on Diana." Whispered Rembrandt. "You can do this!"  
Diana shook her head as she studied the screen. "Some of Mallory's own genes are being pulled along with Quinn's." 

"I'm trying to enhance the visual lock on his signature now." Said Lang. "I think that's got it. Now Diana, bring his body into phase."

She quickly pressed a few buttons and then turned to look at the platform. Both Quinn and Mallory slowly came into phase. As their bodies solidified they both suddenly collapsed and fell onto the ground.

"Mallory! Quinn!" The Sliders rushed forward.

"Hold on!" Shouted Lang, holding his hands up to stop them. "Their bodies are simply adjusting to being separate again after being intertwined for so long. They need time to stabilise and getting into contact with them at this time will make things worse."

Diana came to his side. "He's right. They will be fine, just give them some time for their bodies to adjust."

Maggie turned and watched as Quinn lowered his head and vomited over the base of the platform. He then lay on his back and closed his eyes, trying to shut out the pain. Mallory was mirroring his moves and holding his stomach tight. He finally looked up and smiled at them all.

"I … I did it…" He managed to say.

Wade took a deep breath. She hovered just outside of the room and was not sure if she could gain the courage to enter. Finally deciding she closed her eyes for a moment and then entered the room. She instantly smiled when she saw him sitting up on the hospital bed while the doctor checked him over. Seeing that his patient had a visitor the doctor put away his tests and left the two alone. They stood, staring at each other for a long time, like when you see a long lost friend after many years but are not sure if it is them. Suddenly the tension lifted and they both stepped forward and embraced into a tight hug.

"Quinn!" Cried Wade.

"Wade! I can't believe it's you!"

"I…" She pulled away from him and then tried to cover up her arms with the scars running down them.

"It's ok, Wade. I remember." She looked up. "Even though I was in a dormant type state I remember bits and pieces … fragments really … of Mallory's own memory." He continued to look at her. "It's just so good to see you again. We thought that we had lost you for good."

She wiped the tears from her eyes. "And we thought that we had lost you too."

They hugged again, both needing that sense of familiarity and closeness that the months of being apart had taken from them. They then looked up to see the others standing by the door.

"Q-ball!" Shouted Rembrandt. He rushed in and hugged his friend. "It's good to have you back."

"Glad I am back, Remmy." Said Quinn. "And you kept it all together…"

Rembrandt nodded and smiled. "Even got back home and kicked the Magg's butts. But there's time for all that later."

Diana then stepped forward. "It's good to finally meet you Quinn." 

"You too Diana." Quinn then looked up to see Mallory standing in the corner. "Thank you…"

"No need to say anything." He smiled. "I would not give up until I got you out of me. It feels good to have my own body back to myself."

There was a cough at the door and they turned to see Maggie enter. Rembrandt motioned to the others and after saying that they would catch up with Quinn later they left the room. Soon it had emptied and there was only the two of them left.

"Hi Maggie."

"Quinn."

Both seemed nervous and unsure of what to say to one another. After a long moment of silence Quinn finally held out his hand and she took it. Burying her head into his chest she began to cry tears of happiness. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

"Maggie I … I could never truly express what I felt before."

She looked up into his eyes. "Words aren't everything Quinn."

Nodding he leaned in close and they kissed.

"What's this?" Lang stared at the small container that Diana had given him.

"It is a blood sample from Remmy. It contains a virus that once heated into the atmosphere will protect your world from the Kromaggs if they ever invade."

"This is … remarkable." He smiled. "Thank you, Diana."

"It's the least that we can do after all of your help."

After saying her goodbyes Diana left the building and joined the others outside.

"Just come back and he's already messing with the timer." Joked Rembrandt. Wade and Maggie joined him in his laughter.

"Just a little tinkering Remmy." Smiled Quinn. "I need to adjust the power flow so that the wormhole is stable enough to hold all six of us. There, it's done."

"We've accomplished so much." Smiled Mallory. "So what's left?"

"All that's left to do is to find Quinn's home-world and a way to take out the Kromaggs once and for all." Stated Maggie.

Quinn closed his eyes at the mention of home. Memories from Mallory of Colin' death came back to him. As the display reached zero, he activated the timer and the vortex slowly formed. Holding out his hand to Maggie the two jumped together into the swirling vortex and disappeared. The others ran forward and followed closely behind, disappearing into the gateway in a flash of light. As the wind slowly died down the vortex began to fade and then finally closed.

End.


	9. The Raid

Episode 9: "The Raid."

Timer countdown: 24 minutes remaining…

Quinn furiously taped away at the control panel, ignoring the sparks of electricity that jolted from the ones around him, and tried to access the encrypted Kromagg files. He chanced a glance to his right and saw the display of the timer. There was less than 24 minutes remaining until the slide. Tearing his gaze away he tried to focus on the task at hand but it seemed impossible. As soon as the base had been infiltrated a virus had been unleashed into the computer system and it was deleting all important data piece by piece before he even had a chance to access them.

"Quinn?" 

He turned around to hear Diana's voice through the crackling signal of the radio that was on the table. Every second was crucial and so he could not waste any time by picking up the set. Instead he called out to Maggie who was keeping watch outside. Maggie rushed into the room, on hearing his call, clutching her rifle tightly. Hearing the static of the radio she went over to it.

"Diana? Mallory? Please tell me that you've got good news!"

Diana's voice came through. "I've been trying to disable the inter-dimensional beacon from the Security Control Room but I'm being continually locked out of the system!"

"It's the firewall that their systems have." Stated Quinn, still trying to decrypt the files. "It has been happening here also but I've managed to break into the system and am trying to decode the files now. Diana you've got to find a way to turn the signal off before the Kromagg gliders get here!"

"How much time?"

"We've got just under 20 minutes! Where's Rembrandt and Wade?"

There was a slight pause. "They haven't met up with us yet. We've tried to contact them but their radio must be damaged. I'll do my best but I'm not sure if I can gain access. Diana out…"

Quinn looked up and at Maggie. "Where could they be?"

"They'll be here, Quinn. Just concentrate on getting into the files." 

"Wait…" Quinn fell silent. "That's it! I'm in." The screen flashed as the encryption codes were broken and full access to the files was granted. As fast as his hands could type he browsed through the mass of files in search for the one that held the co-ordinates of different parallel worlds. But as fast as he was sorting through them the virus was deleting them. 

Maggie froze as the sound of multiple wormholes opening could be heard in the distance. "It's too late! Diana, Mallory get to the roof now! We'll meet you there!" She checked the timer. "You've got 17 minutes!" She turned suddenly as a noise came from the corridor. Raising the rifle she slowly walked forward. 

Quinn exclaimed in joy. "I've found it!" Quickly retrieving the timer he hooked up a data cable from the console to it and then began the transfer. The screen began to flicker as the virus began to corrupt the current file. Quinn reached for the timer in an attempt to pull it from the transfer before the virus could spread to it and then cried out in pain as a jolt shot up his arm.

"Quinn!" Maggie ignored the sound that she had heard and rushed over to him. She saw that he was in extreme pain and turning over his hand she saw the burnt flesh that the shock had done to his hand. As she ripped off a piece of her clothes to bandage his hand, footsteps came from behind…

What if you found a portal to a parallel universe?

What if you could slide into a thousand different worlds?

Where it's the same year

And you're the same person

But everything else is different

And what if you can't find your way home…

Starring: 

Jerry O' Connell as Quinn Mallory 

Cleavent Derricks as Rembrandt Brown

Sabrina Lloyd as Wade Welles

Kari Wuhrer as Maggie Beckett

Robert Floyd as Mallory

And Tembi Locke as Diana Davis

… Sliders!

Timer countdown: 3 hours and 21 minutes…

A swirling silver blue orb of light suddenly ripped through the dimensional strands between worlds and slowly began to form. The vortex howled, blowing papers off of the desk, and cast a strange glow over the room like the rippling waves of an ocean. As a bright flash of light erupted Quinn emerged from the depths of the vortex and fell onto the floor. Slowly getting up he moved out of the way as the others appeared. Mallory came through last, and fell straight onto the nearby couch, causing it to fall over with him. The gateway stayed open for a moment longer and then finally closed.

"Oww…" Mallory rubbed his side. "Quinn, I think that you've put a little too much power into the vortex!"

Quinn smiled. "Sorry Mallory but the power output has to stay the same so that the vortex can accommodate all six of us safely."

Diana nodded and smiled. 

"Talk about door-to-door service." Said Rembrandt, trying to hold in his laughter. "We've slid right into a suite in the Chandler Hotel. Been a while since we've landed somewhere other than a back alley." He observed.

"How long do we have here?" Asked Wade.

Quinn checked the timer. "3 hours and change."

Maggie walked over to the other side of the room and lifted up the blinds to let some light in. She suddenly froze and then turned back. "Guys … we've got company!"

The others rushed over to the window and followed Maggie's gaze. There marching in tight formation in the middle of the street were Kromagg soldiers. They marched side by side, each carrying their strange weapons ahead of them, as they went about rounding up the fleeing humans that tried to escape.

"Aim!" Shouted the Kromagg Commander. "And fire!"

The Kromagg soldiers stopped marching. Lifting up their weapons they moved into position to take aim and then fired. A stream of blue energy shot out from the strange weapons and hit many of the humans, bringing them down to the ground harmlessly. The Sliders slowly closed the blinds and moved back.

Rembrandt punched his fist into his other hand. "Damn Maggs! They're everywhere!"

"They must be in the process of trying to take over this world." Stated Diana.

Maggie sighed as she looked at Quinn. "So much for that quality time we were gonna spend together."

He nodded and placed his arm around her. 

"So what do we do?" Asked Mallory. "Shall we lay low or take them out. We do have the virus."

"I'm all for that." Echoed Remmy.

"But we've only got just over three hours here." Argued Wade. "All that we can do is start to release some of it into the atmosphere."

Quinn thought for a moment as everyone turned to him to make the decision. "I think that we can do a little bit more than that. The Kromaggs must have some kind of base here from which to direct their operations. If we could infiltrate their base then we could not only disable their control centre but also hack into their systems."

Diana nodded; understanding what Quinn was getting at. "And uncover the co-ordinates to Kromagg Prime."

"It's going to risky." Maggie replied. "And we're against the countdown of the timer. But if we plan this properly then … we might just pull it off."

"Then it's settled." Smiled Rembrandt. "We raid the Magg base!"

2 hours and 43 minutes remaining…

Maggie slowly pushed the little dial on the binoculars that she held, and the lens began to zoom in, the image becoming more distinct. She viewed the length of the Kromagg base that was in the distance. The base was a high-levelled building that had been turned into their base of operations, guards stood to attention by all the entrances, and various devices were being brought in from the nearby gliders. The only place that was relatively less guarded was the roof entrance.

"Looks like we have to go through the roof." Said Maggie, handing the binoculars over to Mallory whom was by her side. "Everywhere else is too heavily guarded."

"Yeah, it looks that way. I might be wrong but those types of buildings usually have ventilation shafts up on their roofs."

Maggie nodded. "Come on, let's get back to the others."

Getting up from their vantage point, Maggie and Mallory left the roof of the hotel, and made their way back to the suite where the others were. When they arrived they saw that they had already begun preparations. Quinn and Diana were extracting samples from Rembrandt's blood and placing them in containers while Wade had gathered some radios and even a rifle that she had found under the bar. They looked up when they saw the two enter the room.

"How's the security?" Asked Rembrandt.

"Tight." Answered Mallory. "The best place to enter would be from the roof. We also spotted some ventilation shafts."

"That's great." Smiled Diana. "We can heat up the virus and cipher the gas into the shafts and through the entire building."

"We'll have to move fast." Added Quinn. "Here's the plan. There must be some kind of emergency ladder to the side of the building that we can use to gain access to the roof. Once there we'll begin to gas the building with the virus. Once the majority of Kromaggs have been killed we'll enter. That is where we split up. Diana, Mallory, you two have to get to the Security Control Room, it will be the place where they have all the monitors and system warnings. There must be some kind of countermeasure that will shut us out of the mainframe or even call some Kromagg reinforcements. You guys need to disable those."

"And we're heading straight to the Main Control Room right?" Asked Maggie.

"Right. Once Diana and Mallory have gained us access to the mainframe I'll then try to decrypt the encryption codes on the various files."

"What about Remmy and I?" Asked Wade.

"You guys need to free any prisoners that are held on the base. Get them to safety if you have to but remember to stay in radio contact. On a world that is just being taken over, Kromagg reinforcements can't be far behind."

Wade nodded. "We'll do our best." She picked up the radios and gave each of the groups one. "You'd put better use to this Maggie." She handed to her the rifle.

"Thanks Wade." Maggie checked the rifle and found that there was ample ammo stored inside. 

"We can do this guys!" Smiled Mallory. "We have to. Not only will we save this world by clearing out the Maggs but we'll also get the co-ordinates to Quinn's home world!"

Rembrandt pressed a tissue against his arm from the place where the needle was just taken out of his skin. "We better make a move. Time's against us…"

2 hours and 24 minutes remaining…

Quinn, Maggie, Rembrandt, Wade, Mallory and Diana slowly made their way through the streets. Several times they had come across Kromagg troops but they kept to the shadows and hid, waiting until they passed by. They soon arrived into an alleyway overlooking the Kromagg Base that was just across the road. They waited once more, as the guard slowly turned his back, and ran, keeping as low as they could, until they made it into the opposite alleyway. 

Mallory silently lowered the emergency ladder and one by one they climbed up it, being as quiet as they could. They had soon made it to the roof. Without a word they went straight into it. Quinn and Diana took out the lighters that they carried and began to heat up the containers with the virus over the ventilation shafts. Soon a gaseous form began to spew from the blood and made its way down the shaft.

"Ok, you all know what you have to do?" He asked. They all nodded their heads. 

"We'll keep the virus heated up until it has a chance to circulate." Said Rembrandt. "Then we'll free the prisoners."

"Be careful Remmy, Wade."

"Always are, Q-Ball."

Nodding Quinn turned and followed the others as they made their way over to the door that led into the building while Rembrandt and Wade continued to heat up the virus. As they got onto the first level they said a few quick words of good luck and then separated into the two groups. Maggie could already hear the screams of the dying Kromaggs and smell the faint aroma of the heated virus as it billowed down the corridor.

Rifle at the ready she led the way as they descended deeper into the base and searched for the Main Control Room. Time seemed to quickly pass, as they moved past the many dead Kromagg bodies, and finally found the room. Quinn spotted the electronic keypad device that was hooked up beside the door. He began to try inputting a few random codes but to no success. 

"I'm going to have to try and override it."

Quinn pried open the panel and stared at the complicated electronics. His methodical mind worked out the easiest way to shortage the panel and soon he pulled out two separate wires and fused them together. The door creaked open a fraction. Together with Maggie they pulled it open enough so that they could enter the room.

As Quinn pulled a dead Kromagg soldier off of a console hooked up to the mainframe, Maggie picked up the radio, and contacted Mallory and Diana. "Where are you guys?"

"… We made it into the Security Control Room a few minutes ago." Answered Mallory. "Diana is trying to work out the different systems and controls now."

"I can't gain access." Sighed Quinn. "Tell Diana that she has to unlock access to the Main Control Room."

"… I'm on it." Came Diana's reply.

1 hour and 39 minutes remaining…

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Asked Rembrandt.

"It is." Replied Wade. "The file that I found in that other room reported that the prisoners were being held in the basement." 

Wade physically shuddered as she stepped over a dead Kromagg body. Looking up she continued down the dark corridor. The lighting on this level had been completely disabled and they could hardly see what was in front of them. They soon came to a door towards the end of the corridor. Turning the handle slowly they emerged into a large room. They immediately turned to their left on seeing the blue barrier that held several prisoners entrapped.

"Who? …" A prisoner stood up in shock.

"Don't worry, we're gonna get you out of here!" Said Wade.

"No … no … they'll be here! Run!" He struggled to get out.

"Hey man, it's ok." Assured Rembrandt. "We've taken care of the Maggs. Now, do you know where the controls for this thing is?"

Hesitating slightly, the man pointed to a device standing towards the corner of their cell. Slowly the other prisoners began to stir, as the prospect of being set free was becoming a reality by the second. 

"Which one?" Rembrandt stared at the multitude of Kromagg buttons that were on the device.

"The red one?" Suggested Wade.

"Worth a try." He pressed the button. For a few seconds nothing happened. Suddenly the blue barrier began to slow and then finally faded from sight. The prisoners were freed.

"Thank you!" They shouted in joy.

"Come on, we'll lead you out of here." 

Turning Rembrandt and Wade led the group of prisoners out of the basement.

1 hour and 7 minutes remaining…

"Oh no!"

Mallory turned from his gaze into the corridor and ran over to Diana. "What do you mean: 'oh no'?"

Diana pointed to the flashing red light that was to the side of the screen. "From as far as I can tell it looks like some kind of alert signal."

"Signal to what?"

"…" Diana pressed a few of the buttons and brought up a sub-menu. "The system has back-up countermeasures if the base has been infiltrated. It looks like some kind of inter-dimensional beacon that is contacting other Kromagg gliders!"

"I'd better tell the others." Mallory picked up the radio.

"… There's more bad news…"

"I know." Came Quinn's voice from the receiver. "A computer virus has been let loose into the system. It is erasing all of the information stored on the mainframe!"

"Can you gain access to the relevant files?" 

"No. They are encoded in some kind of Kromagg encryption code. I am trying to decode them now."

"Maybe there is something here that I can…" Diana jumped back slightly as the screen turned blank.

"What happened?"

Mallory stared at the blank screen and then picked up the radio. "We're having a little … technical difficulties."

"We've been locked out of the system!" Said Diana. 

"You guys have got to turn that beacon off!" Said Quinn. "Otherwise a hoard of Kromagg gliders are going to slide here before we have a chance to gain access to the files!"

"We'll try. Mallory out." Mallory changed the channels. "Rembrandt, Wade, do you read me?"

"… Mallory? We read you." Came Wade's voice. 

"Where are you guys?"

"We've just helped the prisoners get clear of the building. We're making our way up to you guys now."

"Ok then. See you two soon. Mallory out."

40 minutes remaining (Off world)…

"Commander!" The Kromagg officer addressed his superior. "The gliders are powered and ready to go!"

"Excellent. Is the inter-dimensional beacon still in operation?"

"Yes Sir. We have tracked the signal to Earth 114. It is one of the current worlds that we are invading."

"Good. Gather the troops. We'll teach those human scum to rise up against us! We leave now!"

20 minutes remaining…

"We've got just under 20 minutes! Where's Rembrandt and Wade?"

There was a slight pause. "They haven't met up with us yet. We've tried to contact them but their radio must be damaged. I'll do my best but I'm not sure if I can gain access. Diana out…"

Quinn looked up and at Maggie. "Where could they be?"

"They'll be here, Quinn. Just concentrate on getting into the files." 

"Wait…" Quinn fell silent. "That's it! I'm in." The screen flashed as the encryption codes were broken and full access to the files was granted. As fast as his hands could type he browsed through the mass of files in search for the one that held the co-ordinates of different parallel worlds. But as fast as he was sorting through them the virus was deleting them. 

Maggie froze as the sound of multiple wormholes opening could be heard in the distance. "It's too late! Diana, Mallory get to the roof now! We'll meet you there!" She checked the timer. "You've got 17 minutes!" She turned suddenly as a noise came from the corridor. Raising the rifle she slowly walked forward. 

Quinn exclaimed in joy. "I've found it!" Quickly retrieving the timer he hooked up a data cable from the console to it and then began the transfer. The screen began to flicker as the virus began to corrupt the current file. Quinn reached for the timer in an attempt to pull it from the transfer before the virus could spread to it and then cried out in pain as a jolt shot up his arm.

"Quinn!" Maggie ignored the sound that she had heard and rushed over to him. She saw that he was in extreme pain and turning over his hand she saw the burnt flesh that the shock had done to his hand. As she ripped off a piece of her clothes to bandage his hand, footsteps came from behind…

"Quinn? Maggie?" 

Maggie turned and smiled as Rembrandt and Wade came into view. "Where have you two been?! You were supposed to meet up with the others a long time ago!"

"We got side tracked." Answered Wade. She turned and saw Quinn's hand. "You ok, Quinn?"

"Yeah, just got burnt a little." Getting up he retrieved the timer and disconnected it to the mainframe. "Come on, we've got to get to the roof!"

Rushing out of the room the group ran as fast as they could through the corridor and up the several sets of stairs towards the roof. They emerged out into fresh air to see Diana and Mallory crouching behind part of the building as Kromagg gliders circled overhead.

"Guys!" Smiled Mallory. They quickly made their way over to them. "Talk about cutting it close!"

"Did you get the co-ordinates?" Asked Diana.

"I think so." Quinn replied. "Gonna have to check it on the next world!" Pressing the button he activated the timer and the stream of energy shot out. A strong wind blew all around them as the vortex began to form. "Go! Go!" He shouted.

As the vortex fully formed the group ran a few feet ahead and jumped one by one into the gateway. The glider's weapon fire harmlessly hit the ground where they had been a moment before. They had escaped.

Maggie stood, her arms around Quinn's shoulders, as he sat down by the table, studying the co-ordinates that he had downloaded from the Kromagg mainframe.

"Luckily, I disconnected the timer before the virus had a chance to disrupt its systems." Said Quinn. He smiled and placed his hands in hers. "Maggie, It's the co-ordinates to Kromagg Prime! I'm going home!"

End.


	10. Slide Override

Episode 10: "Slide Override."

Quinn stood, staring out at the vast landscape that stretched out before him. The mountains in the distance seemed shrouded in mist, the peaks covered in pure white snow. The valley below was filled with lush green grass and trees; exotic plants were the final touch to its beauty. The last few weeks of peace and relaxation had been welcomed. Ever since the raid Diana and himself had been working on unlocking the hidden code within the co-ordinates while the others enjoyed this peaceful, untouched world. 

He turned as footsteps came up from behind him and smiled as Maggie appeared. She silently came to his side and looked out with him at the scenery. The sun shone down, shimmering on the surface of the nearby river, the still surface being disturbed while joyous laughs and shouts could be heard.

Maggie smiled. "Rembrandt, Mallory, and Wade are trying to catch some fish down by the river. With a little luck they might even catch a few in time for lunch."

"I'm glad that they've taken the time to enjoy themselves. They sure deserve it."

"Have you seen Wade?" Quinn shook his head 'no'. "She asked earlier if she could borrow one of my tops. It's the first time that she has worn a top with no sleeves."

Quinn smiled his understanding. Ever since she had recovered Wade was too self conscious to show her arms and reveal the scars from the Kromagg experiments. But now it seemed that she was finally gaining the courage. "I'm glad. She's been through so much … maybe even more than the rest of us." He sighed. "What about Diana?"

"Diana is down by the river also, but is keeping well clear of the water, while she works on her PDA. When I spoke to her last she mentioned that you both were really close to unlocking the code."

Quinn nodded. "We've almost got it, I'm sure of it. We might even figure it out before we slide from here in a day's time." Turning to face her Quinn leaned in close and they shared a kiss. Placing his arm around her waist they walked down the side of the hill and towards the others.

On Kromagg Prime…

Amanda and Michael Mallory walked down the long corridor of the Counter-Kromagg Defence Base and headed for the Equipment Room. As soon as the sensors in the Control Room had picked up that an unauthorised person had entered the room they knew who it was. It did not take them long to reach the room, and after pausing for a moment, they entered. They watched as Colin walked around the room, unaware that they were there, picking up a timer from the shelf.

"Amanda…" Michael cut her off as she was about to go up to him. "He has to do this."

"But … but he still needs time to recover."

"He has recovered. It has been almost two months since we phased him back into his normal state. Just look at him…"

Amanda turned to look at her son. He had completely changed from when he first slid onto their world. His face had regained its youth, his hair had gradually turned back to a vibrant brown, and he was generally a whole lot better. 

"I just…" She tried to stop the tears in her eyes. "I just can't bare to loose him again!"

"I know." He placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. 

Hearing the slight sobbing sound Colin looked up and almost jumped as he saw them. "Mum! Dad!"

Michael let her go and moved to him. "You don't have to say anything. I know that you have to go and search for your friends and Quinn. Just be careful ok." As Colin nodded he turned and picked up a strange device from the shelf. "This is a signature tracker. We will program into it Quinn's distinctive quantum signature. When you arrive at an Earth you should be able to tell if Quinn has passed through. If he has you will be able to track his wormhole and eventually catch up with him."

"Thank you, Dad."

"Just remember to return before your timer completely burns out. This can happen sooner rather than later as you are sliding at will."

Amanda stayed silent for a long time and then finally went up to Colin. Reaching out she pulled him in close and hugged him tight. "Promise me. Promise me that you will come back!"

Colin sighed. "I will Mum … we both will." Turning Colin picked up the last of the equipment that he needed and then followed his parents as they went to program the Quantum Signature Tracker. "Where ever you are brother, I hope that you are safe. Just hold on a little longer … until I can find you."…

What if you found a portal to a parallel universe?

What if you could slide into a thousand different worlds?

Where it's the same year

And you're the same person

But everything else is different

And what if you can't find your way home…

Starring: 

Jerry O' Connell as Quinn Mallory 

Cleavent Derricks as Rembrandt Brown

Sabrina Lloyd as Wade Welles

Kari Wuhrer as Maggie Beckett

Robert Floyd as Mallory

And Tembi Locke as Diana Davis

… Sliders!

A small transparent distortion suddenly appeared in mid air and soon began to form into a bright silver green vortex. The air around the portal shimmered slightly and hummed so silently that it was almost unheard. A bright flash of light erupted and Colin lightly stepped out of the vortex and landed onto the ground. The gateway quickly closed behind him as he turned to escape the shocked faces from the people in the busy street.

Colin made his way down the street and then took out his Quantum Signature Tracker. The device began to search for any sign of Quinn but after a long time it turned out negative. "… So, Quinn has never been to this world." 

Placing the device back into his pocket Colin reactivated the timer. A stream of energy shot out, hitting the air right in front of him, and opening up the vortex. The vortex formed faster than a normal wormhole and soon Colin had stepped through it … on to another Earth.

Rembrandt laughed. He couldn't believe it when he stared at the four medium sized fish that was lying on the hot grass beside the river. It had taken them all a long time but they had finally managed to catch enough fish to make a meal, even if it was nearing dinner rather than lunch. He turned and smiled as he saw Wade and Mallory in the middle of a water fight.

"Mallory! I swear to God if you … ah!" Wade was cut off as Mallory had swam underneath her and dragged her below the surface. They both came up spluttering but laughing hysterically. "Mallory!"

Mallory smiled and swam away from Wade as she shouted light threats of getting him back. "I can't see that happening!" He laughed.

"At least I have another top to change into!"

"No problem. The sun will dry my clothes out."

Maggie laughed at the pair from the grass and then turned to see Quinn sigh heavily. They were sitting under the shade of a large oak tree while Diana and himself were trying to unlock the code. Diana sighed also and rubbed her eyes. 

"Go on." Said Quinn. "Take a break."

"You sure?" 

"Yeah. You've been working really hard. Go on, enjoy yourself a little."  
Diana smiled and then handed over her PDA to Quinn. She then went to join the others by the river. Quinn stared at the co-ordinates … but he was no closer to finding a solution. "This is impossible! I just can't do it!"

"You can Quinn." Replied Maggie. "Just take it slow. Break it down piece by piece and you'll find it."

He shook his head. "I remember what my parents told me. They said that only Colin and I could unlock the code. Without him…" He sighed.

"So … only together could you uncover the code?"

"Right."

"Well … he's not your brother…" Maggie turned to the river. "But he is a Mallory."

Quinn looked up and followed her gaze. "Maggie! You're a genius!" He smiled and the kissed her on the cheek. Getting up he called out to Mallory. 

Mallory stopped in the middle of splashing water all over Wade as he heard Quinn. 

"That can't be right." Smirked Wade. "Quinn calling you for help. He must be desperate."  
"Ha ha, very funny." Smiled Mallory, splashing her again. He waded his way out of the river and then headed over to Quinn. "What's up?"

"My parents said that only Colin and I could unlock the hidden code within the co-ordinates." He looked up at Mallory. "But since you're an alternate of myself…"

"… Then I might be able to help you unlock it."

"Exactly."

Mallory shook the water out of his ear. "Well … I'm no genius but I'll give it a shot." He sat down beside him as Quinn explained what he had gathered so far.

"Yes!" Colin exclaimed loudly. He smiled as the tracking device beeped, having found traces of Quinn's quantum signature on the Earth that he had just arrived at. From the looks of things the traces seemed to be several months old. "At least it's a start … now for the hard part." 

Taking out another device from his pocket Colin searched the area for the remnants of a photon trail of a vortex. There were many gateways that had been activated from here in the last six months but only one that contained traces of Quinn's unique signature.

Inputting the destination co-ordinates of the photon trail into the timer he then set the timer to continue tracking that particular configuration of the vortex. "This could take a while. I better get a new timer before this one burns out." Saving the co-ordinates he then inputted the special co-ordinates of Kromagg Prime and returned home.

A fire burned brightly on the campsite as one by one the Sliders retired and went to sleep. Soon only Mallory and Quinn were left awake, denying themselves any sleep until they made some sort of breakthrough. A million stars shone brightly above them, a vast contrast to the haze that was constantly over a city's view. But out here in the open they could see everything without noise or pollution to get in their way.

Mallory yawned. "I can't believe we can't see it."

Quinn nodded. "I just don't understand. Maybe I'm looking at it too scientifically, maybe it's not some complicated algorithm but just a simple pattern."

"Well, if it is I still can't see it." Mallory moved back from the screen. "Wait a minute. Your parents said that only you and Colin could unlock the code … but have you really thought about why that really is. It can't just be because of some super complicated code that only the two of you could work out otherwise the Kromaggs might have as well."

"Can't argue with that … wait a second…" Quinn stared at the co-ordinates. "Mallory! You've done it!"

Mallory stared at him, puzzled. "I have?"

"That's the puzzle! 'Only Colin and I can unlock the code.' She did not mean us physically but our names." He turned and tapped onto the PDA: 'Quinn / Colin'. "If I displace the letters for numbers I.E a=1 then our names will separately add up to 75 and 53!"

"So that's the code! 7553."

"I just have to add it to the last digits of the co-ordinates! We've done it!"  
The two turned to each other and high-fived. The noise caused the others to stir but they did not wake.

"Let's get some sleep." Smiled Mallory. "The only way we'll find out if it works is the slide tomorrow."

"I hope so." Replied Quinn. "I hope so."

The next morning the Sliders rose up early to prepare for the Slide. Diana marvelled as Mallory related to her how they had hopefully worked it out. "I can't believe it was so simple!"

"Me neither. It was that line that done it. The fact that only Quinn and Colin could unlock the code. It was hidden in their names all along."

Diana checked the timer's display. "It's almost time!" She called out to the others.

Quinn, Wade, Rembrandt, and Maggie stood nearby, apprehensive. 

"This could be the end of our journey, Q-ball." Reflected Rembrandt.

"I hope so Remmy. We've been sliding for so long that I thought that we would never accomplish our goals. But somehow we have. And now that it is coming to an end … it feels … I can't put words to it."  
Wade smiled. "Once we finish off the Maggs we can finally go…" Wade's smile faded as she thought about what she was saying."

"I know what you're thinking Wade." Sighed Quinn.

Maggie nodded. "It's kind of been on my mind too, though probably not as much as the others. After my home was destroyed my home was with you guys now, wherever that took me. But…"

"… After all this is over." Continued Wade. "Is home back on Earth Prime … or with your parents?"

Quinn stood silently for a while. The activation of the vortex broke the awkward silence. "I don't know Wade. I really haven't thought about it yet." He turned and walked towards the newly formed gateway. "Well … here goes nothing!" He ran forward and jumped into the swirling silver blue vortex.

The others took a deep breath and then followed closely behind.

Kromagg Prime…

"Huh?" A Technician turned as a signal appeared on his monitor. 

"What is it?" Asked Michael.

"It seems to be a wormhole…" He checked the data. "I haven't got confirmation of the quantum signatures yet … oh no! It's a Kromagg configuration gateway!"

"Re-route it! Quickly!"

The Technician nodded and then started the procedure to redirect the wormhole to another Earth.

Amanda soon arrived at the Main Control Room as she heard the commotion. "Could the Kromaggs have discovered how to slide through the Slide Field?"

"I don't know." Michael replied. "For now we just have to assume the worse."

Between worlds…

Quinn followed the various fast twists and turns of the gateway as he was propelled forward. With every moment the hope rose higher within him. This had to be it. He was going home. He soon saw the bright white light up ahead that signalled the end of the vortex and smiled even more. Suddenly the exotic matter all around him began to shift and the bright light vanished as he was pulled in an entirely new direction. The new path wound its way forward and soon he was thrown from the vortex.

Quinn landed roughly on the hard floor of a room and then slowly came to his feet. "What just happened?"

The others soon joined him on the floor and then groaned as the vortex closed.

"Is it just me or did that vortex feel funny to anyone else?" Asked Rembrandt.

"Yeah." Winced Maggie. "We were going along one way and then were totally pulled in a completely new direction."

Diana slowly got onto her feet and then checked the timer. "Quinn…"

"I know." He replied. "This isn't Kromagg Prime."

The others looked around. "Then where are we?" Asked Wade.

"It doesn't matter. The co-ordinates were correct … but were changed somehow. Something overrode the exit and re-routed us here."

"Then I guess we have to find out why." Sighed Diana.

Maggie looked on as Quinn's expression turned to one of sadness. He had really hoped that they had finally made it.

Rembrandt, Wade, Mallory, and Diana looked up from their table beside the bar as they spotted Maggie coming over to them.

"How's Quinn?" Asked Diana.

"Doing ok. He's literally taking apart the timer to see if there is a fault with it." She sighed. "I think he knows that it is not a problem on our part but he wants to check nonetheless."

Rembrandt sipped his beer. "So how long do we have here anyway? We've taken a look outside and the people here aren't really that friendly. Seems that they have just come out of a civil war between two religious groups. Religion is very big in this place."

"Long enough." Sighed Maggie. "Over 72 hours."

"Well I say we just stay put right here and stay well away from any religious people." Stated Mallory. "We don't want to be pulled into any riots or anything."

Rembrandt nodded. "Definitely."  
"Well I better go and lend a hand." Smiled Diana. Finishing her drink she went back upstairs with Maggie.

Colin was on the verge of exhaustion. His last stretch of sliding had lasted longer than 18 hours. In that time he had been to so many worlds that he had lost count. His head was dazed with the different sights, people, and scenery that he had seen. But the one constant spurned him on. He was close. With each slide Quinn's quantum signature was growing more distinct. It would not be long before he had catched up with them.

Colin rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He knew that he should return home and get some rest. But the next world … it could be the last one. The one with Quinn. Raising his tired arms he opened the gateway once more and half stumbled half ran forward, disappearing in a bright flash of light.

"Quinn?"

Quinn looked up as Maggie and Diana entered the room. "Hey, guys. The timer's fine. It was something else."

"Could it have been the slide field?" Suggested Diana.

"Or it might not be the right code." He shook his head. "But it has to be. Every other possibility is a dead end."

"Then someone must have turned the vortex away for some reason." Said Maggie.

"Turned it away?" Realisation dawned in Quinn's eyes then he hit his head. "Of course! We have the right co-ordinates … but the timer is Kromagg in origin. Anyone that must have detected this must have seen that!"

"So how do we get to Kromagg Prime?" 

"…"

"The only way might be to build a new timer." Sighed Diana. "Otherwise we won't be able to slide -" Diana was cut off as a distortion suddenly appeared right in front of them. "A wormhole!"

Maggie instantly looked around and broke off a leg of a chair to use as a weapon. "Watch out!"

There was a bight flash of light and then a body flew out of the wormhole and then onto the ground. "It's not a Kromagg…" Said Diana. Maggie put the chair leg down. 

Quinn move from around the table and went to help the Slider up. "Hey are you…" He froze. Maggie put a hand to her mouth as she recognised who it was. "Colin!"

Colin looked up with wide eyes and stared at them. "Quinn! Maggie!"

"Colin!"  
The two brothers hugged as Maggie ran to join them. "We thought you were dead!" She almost cried.

"The last slide … it lead me to Kromagg Prime!" Colin turned to Quinn. "Our parents found me and returned me back to normal!"

"Mum … Dad … they're safe?"

He nodded. "For the last few days I've been trying to find you."

Diana smiled and then ran out of the room to get the others.

"Looks like you've picked up a few new passengers along the way." Smiled Colin.

"A lot has happened. At the same time that you were made unstuck I was merged into an alternate of mine."

Colin looked at Quinn in shock. "What happened?"

"There's plenty of time to go over that later." He looked down to the timer. "Can we…?"

"Yeah. We can slide right now."

The room burst open and Diana reappeared followed by Rembrandt, Mallory, and Wade.

"Farm boy!" Exclaimed Rembrandt. He ran forward and embraced his friend.

Mallory and Wade stood to one side with Diana, smiling as the quartet were reunited.

"I think a quick introduction is in order." Smiled Colin.

Rembrandt nodded. "This here is Mallory."

"Mallory? The alternate?"

Mallory nodded. "That's me."  
"And you must be Wade." Smiled Colin.

Wade smiled. "It's good to meet you Colin. I can see the family resemblance." Wade turned to Diana. "And this is Diana."

"Nice to meet you." She smiled.

"Well … what are we waiting for?" Joked Mallory. "Kromagg Prime … here we come!"

Colin nodded and then activated his timer. The air began to shimmer as the distortion quickly opened and a silver green vortex formed. As soon as the vortex was stabilised Colin turned back to Quinn. "They've missed you … missed us both a lot."

Quinn nodded. "I'm finally going home." With that he ran forward with is brother at his side, both disappearing into the vortex. Maggie, Rembrandt, Diana, Wade, and Mallory followed closely behind. The prospect of there journey being almost over elating them with pure joy. 

The gateway soon came to an end and they emerged into the middle of a large room. Quinn scanned the entire room, past the people who had gathered there, until he found the pair that he was looking for.

"Mum! Dad!"

"Quinn!" Amanda and Michael rushed forward and held him close.

"… I'm finally home."

End.


	11. The Dimensional Nexus Part I

Season Finale:

Episode 11: "The Dimensional Nexus." Part I

'Dear Journal:

It all feels like some strange dream. Feels like some long forgotten hope. Those dreams of long ago were lost in the abyss of worlds and slides but now they are finally coming true. It has taken us years of sliding, travelling to new and strange worlds, where we've seen many beautiful things, but also dangerous places of death, destruction, and the darker side of human nature. We've lost some good friends, like the Professor who we will never forget, but also gained some new ones. And now it is finally all coming to an end. This is it. The journey will soon be over. We've finally slid into Quinn's true home.

It won't be long now. Won't be long before I get to slide back home. Finally I can return home again. I just hope that in some way I can find my parents, and I pray that they are safe, and well. But for now all thoughts are trained towards the Kromaggs. Quinn, Colin, and Mr and Mrs Mallory have been getting together and using their combined intellect to try and figure out a way to stop the Kromaggs once and for all. 

But … but I can't help feeling this sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach. The Mallory's are not just figuring out a way to get the Kromaggs off of a few worlds … but to totally wipe out their entire race in the multi-verse! I – I haven't forgotten, how could I ever forget, what the Kromaggs did to me. But the totally extinction of their race? I just … just can't live with that. I just can't.

If we go ahead with this growing plan then that makes us no better, no even worse, than they are. I haven't told the others how I feel … yet. But I'm going to have to. I just can't be a part of this but I can't ignore it either. The cost is too high. It's just not right…

Wade.'

Rembrandt silently watched as Wade began writing in her journal, a range of expressions passing through her features. Since the day after they had arrived she had become withdrawn and silent, not her usual self. He knew that something was preying on her mind and now that they were alone together he could ask her. Maggie and Diana were with the Mallory's in the Conference Room while Mallory was out exploring the compound.

"Wade? You ok?" Rembrandt stood up and made his way over to her. 

Wade looked up, closing her journal, and tried to smile. "Yeah, of course."

"Then say it like you mean it. Come on girl, I know that something's wrong. What can't you tell me?"

She sighed. "Rembrandt it's just … it's Quinn." 

"Quinn?"

"Remmy he wants to totally wipe out the Kromagg race!"

Rembrandt fell silent for a while. "The Maggs have caused so much pain…"

"I know. Don't you think I know that? They've taken over worlds, forced humans into slavery, killed hundreds of innocent people, made us breed with them… but … we can't do this." She lifted up her face and stared directly into his eyes. "We can't destroy their entire race! That's mass murder! We just can't. We can't turn into what they are."

"… I understand your view Wade. Even after all that they have done to you, done to all of us, wiping out their entire species is something that we can't take lightly. But I know that Quinn and his parents won't make such an important decision without thinking it all through first."

"But that's exactly the problem Remmy … I don't think they will…"

What if you found a portal to a parallel universe?

What if you could slide into a thousand different worlds?

Where it's the same year

And you're the same person

But everything else is different

And what if you can't find your way home…

Starring: 

Jerry O' Connell as Quinn Mallory 

Cleavent Derricks as Rembrandt Brown

Sabrina Lloyd as Wade Welles

Kari Wuhrer as Maggie Beckett

Robert Floyd as Mallory

And Tembi Locke as Diana Davis

Special Guest Stars:

Charlie O' Connell as Colin Mallory

Linda Henning as Amanda Mallory

John Walcut as Michael Mallory

… Sliders!

"The results from the analysis have come in." Amanda Mallory looked over at Quinn, Maggie, Colin, Diana, and her husband as she went through several files that she held in front of her. "Because of the chemical in-balance present in our atmosphere due to the Kromagg's previous attempts at Biological Warfare, the virus present in Rembrandt Brown can take up to two weeks longer to process."

"At least it's something." Said Diana. "The sooner the virus is integrated into the atmosphere the sooner we can rid the Kromaggs from your world."  
"What about the attacks?" Asked Maggie. "Will you guys be able to hold on until then? I guess you've been fighting for so long that a few more weeks won't be too hard." 

Michael Mallory nodded. "We can hold on." 

"But this is only the first step." Said Amanda. "We now need to continue our efforts to finding a way to free other worlds from the Kromaggs reign."

Colin spoke up. "Freeing one world at a time would take forever. There are an infinite number of parallel Earths. What we need to do is find a way to simultaneously distribute the virus throughout the multi-verse."

Quinn sighed. "My research is going slow. If only we could find that way we could finally stop the Kromaggs once and for all. It's just finding it." He looked up. "We need to put our heads together. Between the six of us we must be able to come up with something."

"Er, the five of you." Maggie smiled and stood up. "Somehow I can't see myself being of much help." She went over and kissed Quinn. "I'm sure you'll think of something." She turned to leave the room but looked up as Wade and Rembrandt entered. "Hi guys."

"Hey Maggie." Said Rembrandt, his usual smile gone as he prepared himself for the events to unfold.

Wade hovered over by the door for a moment before stepping into the room. "Quinn, I … I need to talk to you. Well, all of you really."

"What's the matter Wade?" Asked Quinn, getting up. 

"It's…" She looked over at Rembrandt for support and then slowly took a deep breath. "What you are doing is wrong."

"Wade … I don't follow?"  
"Quinn this is genocide! Mass murder! You can't do it!"

Quinn took a step back and looked at Wade, puzzled. "What do you mean? The Kromaggs are killers. We can't just let them be and take over world after world, killing and enslaving. What do you think we've been fighting for? What do you think this has all been for?!"

"I know what we've been fighting for! We've been fighting for our home! For our home, not for destroying an entire race, no matter how evil they become. If you do you'll turn out no better than they are!" She turned to the others around the room. "We're not Gods. We don't decide who lives and who dies! We just protect those who we love!"

Quinn stepped forward. "So what about the countless others who have lost their lives to the Kromaggs? What about the countless others who are enslaved, have their eyes taken out to eat, and live their lives in fear? What about the other countless worlds who will soon be taken over by the Maggs? What about them Wade? Do we just forget about them?!"

"Hey!" Said Rembrandt. "Lay off her Q-Ball. Wade knows all what those damn Maggots have done. But I agree with her when she says we just can't wipe out their entire species!"

"Then what do you have planned Remmy?" Said Quinn, becoming sarcastic in his anger. 

"We can just free those worlds that are Magg occupied…"

"That could take years!" Shouted Quinn. "If anyone I thought that you would understand the need to stop the Maggs."

"But your not stopping the Maggs you are wiping them out!" Backed up Wade.

Quinn shook his head. "Come to think of it I did expect this off you Rembrandt."

"And what does that mean?!"

"Back with the Professor, on Maggie's home world, you were willing to just let an entire planet die just to get yourself home!"

"Guys!" Shouted Colin.

"Hey! That was a long time ago!" Remmy defended himself.

"And nothing's changed. You're still out for yourself!"  
"Guys!" Echoed Maggie. "Stop this! This isn't doing anyone any good!"

Quinn calmed down and turned to Wade once more. "When was the last time you looked in the mirror Wade?" Wade's hands instinctively wrapped themselves around her arms, to cover herself up. "Look at what they did to you. Have done, and are doing to countless others. What should we do? Just let them take out world after world and let them be? Just free the ones that we care about and leave the rest? I'm not a murderer … but I will fight for those who can't … in any way that I can!" 

Suddenly a loud alarm blazed through the nearby speakers and the three were snapped out of their fight. 

"What's going on?" Asked Diana.

"The perimeter alarm!" Exclaimed Michael. "The Kromaggs must be starting their next wave of attacks!"

There was a short crackling sound and then Mallory's voice could be heard over the speakers. "Guys! The Maggs have made a sudden attack on the right side of the Compound's perimeter fence. You'd better get up to the Control Room right now!"

Mallory shook his head as he stared at the screen and the images of Kromagg soldiers trying to break through the defences of the Compounds perimeter fence. Automated defences had kicked in and now an electric blue force field surrounded the compound, and ground defence weapons had been activated. He looked up as he heard the mass of footsteps come up from behind.

"The defences?" Immediately asked Amanda. 

"Operational." Responded a nearby Technician.

"Can I be of any use?" Asked Maggie.

"We have manual point defence lasers that you could use."

"I'm on it."

"Hold up Maggie." Mallory rushed after her. "I'll give you a hand."

"Be careful." Warned Michael. "The lasers are above the field's designated area so that they are able to fire but so can fire be returned."

The two nodded and left. The others watched as forces on the ground began to form in case the Kromaggs broke through the perimeter field. Maggie and Mallory ran up a flight of stairs and went through separate doors that led to the weapons. They strapped themselves into their chairs and activated the weapon. The shield doors opened and they got a few of the Compound. Maggie quickly got the hang of the device and began to fire at the hoard of Kromagg soldiers that were storming forward.

"Yahoo!" Came Mallory's voice from the other room.

The Kromagg forces began to fall back at the bombardment from both the automated and manual weapons that were being fired down on them. Soon a full-scale retreat sounded and the unit turned and scattered.

"We did it!" Shouted Mallory. "Ha ha! Look at them Maggs run!"

"Great work, Mallory." Smiled Maggie.

Amanda relaxed as the attack was stopped. She looked up to speak to Quinn but found that he was gone. Wade had left the room also.

Knock! Knock!

Quinn knocked on the door but no answer came. Lifting up his hand he knocked on it again, this time louder.

Knock! Knock!

He could hear Wade hesitate from inside but slowly her footsteps came nearer and the door opened slightly. They stared at each other for a moment before she opened the door wide enough for him to enter and then closed it back shut behind him.

"Listen Wade about be-"

"No, wait Quinn." She sighed. "I'm sorry. I know that you are doing this for the good of everyone. You always do. You constantly drived us onwards, trying to get us home, helping people that we came across, you're always looking out for everyone, even at your own expense. But even though this still feels wrong I want you to know I understand. And I support whatever you do."

Quinn smiled and stepped forward to pull Wade into a hug. "I'm sorry too Wade. I was too hard. And you were right. Maybe I wasn't thinking this all through properly. But … but I can't see any other way. We both want the same thing. One's just a faster method than the other, that's all."

She nodded. "I understand that now."

Wade wiped away the drops in her eyes. "Gosh, look at me. I'm gonna cry."

He smiled. "Never change Wade."

Wade looked up. 

"Never change who you are. You care so much about people, and even if they have done such wrong, you can always find it in your heart to forgive them. So never change, Wade. Your big heart is what makes you so special."

Wade smiled. "Quinn…"

They hugged once more and then turned to go back to the others.

Quinn looked up at all his friends and family that had gathered in the conference room. They had all decided to meet up here and pool any ideas, no matter how weird they sounded, in an attempt to stimulate possible avenues for theories that could be explored. Quinn kept gazing over to Rembrandt, unsure of how to apologise, as Rembrandt mirrored Quinn's looks, wanting the same thing.

"Ok." Said Michael. "Let's start with what we know."

"Well." Said Wade. "When we slide a gateway is formed in between two worlds…"

"Right." Said Mallory. "We also know that vortex's can intersect one another. Like Professor Geiger's research and how Quinn got merged into my body and Colin became unstuck."

Colin thought for a moment. "In an 'unstuck' state my body was pulled from one world to another. So maybe we can go further with that idea but use it for the virus?"

"I can't see a way of doing that." Said Amanda. "And getting just the virus to travel randomly from one world to the next could take as long as distributing it ourselves."

"I think that we should stick with the intersecting vortex idea." Replied Diana.

Quinn remained silent. 

"Quinn?" Asked Rembrandt. "You got something?"

Quinn smiled as Remmy talked to him. "Well … I'm not sure."

"Any idea no matter how weird you said, remember?"

He nodded. "From each world we can stabilise a vortex to every other world, and from those worlds to every other one and so on. So … theoretically the gateways must interconnect at some point. Like when Mallory's vortex intersected with ours."

"Do you think it's possible?" Asked Colin. 

Amanda smiled. "I think it could be likely. A single point in space time where all vortex's cross paths."

"Some kind of … dimensional nexus." Thought Diana.

"Geiger's research would be a great starting point." Quinn turned to Diana. "He was able to intersect two vortex's. If we can expand on his theory then we might be able to figure out a way to find the exact point from which they intersect. We could phase the virus to that point and it would automatically spread throughout the multi-verse!"

"Sound's like a plan to me." Smiled Rembrandt. 

Amanda turned to him. "In the meantime I'll get our scientists to start synthesising the virus in your blood stream."

Maggie smiled. "The others and I will hold the fort and deal with any crisis that might come up leaving you guys to focus solely on this."

Quinn smiled. "That would be great." 

Michael nodded his agreement. "I'll inform our staff to leave you in charge until we've figured this out." 

"Good luck." Smiled Rembrandt.

"Thanks Remmy." Replied Quinn.

Wade, Rembrandt, Maggie and Mallory left the room, leaving the others to figure out calculations and solid, practical theories for the Dimensional Nexus.

"What is your report?" The heavy Kromagg accent came through the secure communicator.

"My continuous surveillance of the Mallory's has brought something of importance that you might want to hear." The Technician looked up to see if he was being watched and then turned back to the transmission. "Since Quinn's arrival on Kromagg Prime he has been busy with secure meetings with the Mallory's but I have been able to patch into the communications system and survey their actions. It appears that they are putting together the base work for a theory on a 'dimensional nexus' a point in space time where they think that they can distribute the virus throughout the multi-verse." He laughed. "A theory that I believe has no substance whatsoever."

"Fool!" Came the loud shout. "You do not know Quinn Mallory at all! That mind that we have been trying to capture for all these years will think of a way to make it happen!" The Technician bit his lip. "Keep up your surveillance of the Mallory's. Any progress and I want to be informed. If he succeeds then this could signal the end of the Kromagg Dynasty! However in our hands this could prove a priceless advantage." 

"Yes, Kronith." The Technician cut off the transmission and returned to his station.

To Be Continued…

  



	12. The Dimensional Nexus Part II

Season Finale:

Episode 12: "The Dimensional Nexus." Part II

Maggie looked over the Technician's shoulder and checked the view screen. Nothing. Not even a little blip on the scanner. Since the sudden attack by the Kromaggs all Maggie's military training was telling her that it was too small to be their main attack. The unit was little more than just scouts, the main full-blown attack would be coming soon; she just did not know when. She made her way around the Control Room and made sure that the Compound was on full alert in case there was another sudden attack, this time with a much larger force.

The central doors opened and Rembrandt and Wade entered the room. Rembrandt rubbed the upper part of his arm, with his other hand, from where the virus was extracted from his blood stream. The synthesising would begin straight away in preparation for the break through into locating the exact co-ordinates of the Dimensional Nexus. 

Rembrandt turned to Wade and smiled. "Look at her. She's right at home in command."  
Maggie laughed and smiled back at him. "What can I say? I like taking charge." She made her way over to her friends. "Don't suppose there is any news yet?"

"No not yet." Answered Wade. "They're all still working hard. Only once or twice I've seen them come out and that's just to get some delicate equipment and electronics."

"They've been at it for hours. Better tell them to have a rest." She sighed. "Wish there was something else that we could do."

Just then the doors opened once more and Mallory entered. "Well there is something that we can do. For Quinn anyway…"

"What is it?" Asked Rembrandt.

"You can count me in." Smiled Maggie.

"But you've got to stay here and look after things." Noted Wade. "We'll be fine, don't worry. You're needed here."

Sighing again Maggie nodded. "Just be careful, ok?"

"We will." 

"So Mallory." Asked Rembrandt. "What's this mission?"

Kromagg Prime: Kromagg Compound…

Kronith paused as he reached the large double doors and made sure that he was presentable. Knocking loudly he waited for a response from within and then went inside. He entered into a large rectangular room, spacious and with few furnishings, a large desk with important Kromagg personnel at the end of the room.

"What is your status, Commander Kronith?" Asked one of the Kromaggs.

"As you know our spy in the human Compound has informed us of Quinn Mallory's arrival here on Kromagg Prime. He has also discovered amongst their party Wade Welles, our escaped test subject, Rembrandt Brown, the man who carries the deadly virus in his blood stream, and Colin Mallory, Quinn's younger brother."  
A loud murmur erupted as the Kromagg personnel began whispering to one another. "This is indeed a critical time for the Kromagg Dynasty. The Sliders have been a thorn in our side for so long and it seems that they have finally made it here."

"This will prove to be our destruction!" Shouted another.

"Silence!" Shouted the most official of the Maggs. "There's more, Kronith?"

He nodded. "The Mallory's are trying to develop a way to pinpoint a place in space time where every vortex intersects one another … a dimensional nexus … as they have put it." He waited for the next round of whispers to die down. "If they succeed then I do not have to tell you of the implications. With Rembrandt Brown in their care they could use the virus inside of him and send it to this Nexus…"

"… And the Kromagg Dynasty will be finished!" The official finished. He paused for a moment. "Kronith, prepare the entire troops. We can not let them succeed! Prepare for the final full on assault of the human Compound!"

"Yes Sir!"…

What if you found a portal to a parallel universe?

What if you could slide into a thousand different worlds?

Where it's the same year

And you're the same person

But everything else is different

And what if you can't find your way home…

Starring: 

Jerry O' Connell as Quinn Mallory 

Cleavent Derricks as Rembrandt Brown

Sabrina Lloyd as Wade Welles

Kari Wuhrer as Maggie Beckett

Robert Floyd as Mallory

And Tembi Locke as Diana Davis

Special Guest Stars:

Charlie O' Connell as Colin Mallory

Linda Henning as Amanda Mallory

John Walcut as Michael Mallory

… Sliders!

"There…" Quinn added the final touches to the complicated schematics that they had been working on, and then sat back in his chair, looking over at the others in the room. 

Colin looked over the schematics, and then after a while lost in thought, he changed one of the figures slightly. "Hhmm… I think that would work better."

"Agreed." Nodded Diana. She smiled. "I can't believe that we have come this far already!"  
"That's what you get when you leave a lot of genius's in a room to work together." Laughed Michael.

"We're so close." Smiled Amanda. "The schematics and accompanying theory is sound. We just need to put it into practice."

Quinn nodded. "Ok, let's go over what we've got. By utilizing a variation of Geiger's research we can begin to map out the dimensional pathways of different vortexes and so find the exact point from which they intersect. This will require so much power than we currently have to keep the vortexes open and to stabilize a direct link into the Dimensional Nexus. Once we've released the virus in it's gaseous state it should … in theory … travel along thousands of interconnected pathways. There are an infinite number of parallel worlds so we can't hope to reach them all but by the time the power runs out we would have reached so many! But the good part is that the residual virus remaining in the Dimensional Nexus will be carried along with any future vortex that opens!"

"When you say it like that it almost sounds impossible." Sighed Colin.

"Have faith brother. We can do this!"

"What about the power?" He looked over the calculations. "Do we have enough on the Compound?"

Amanda thought for a moment. "We have several stand alone generators that can be used. Some of them are back-up reserves for the Field but since the Slide Field has to be completely shut down for the scan to take place that's not much of a problem."

"Except it gives the Maggs plenty of time to call reinforcements from off world." Sighed Colin. "But there is no other way. We have to take the chance and prepare ourselves as best we can."

"Ok, let's get started." Said Michael. "Quinn, Colin, Diana … using the schematics you need to put together the Dimensional Pathway Scanner that will be used to scan for the Nexus. I will set up the generators to be processed into the machine while Amanda will help Maggie with defence preparations."

They all nodded in agreement. If all went according to plan the Kromaggs would be stopped once and for all…

"You guys prepared?" Asked Maggie.

Mallory looked up as he saw a Technician walk up to him and handed him some equipment: their old timer, one of their advanced timers, and three weapons. "Now we are." 

"The co-ordinates to the world that you specified have been transferred into the new one." Nodded the Technician.

Thanking him Mallory handed back the old timer to Maggie and then turned to both Rembrandt and Wade. "Ready?"

"We're ready." 

Turning Mallory activated the timer and a stream of energy shot out. A distortion ripped through the air as a bright silver green vortex began to form. It was silent, hardly making a sound, as a small wind picked up all around them. They waited several moments for it to fully form and then jumped into the gateway one after the other. As all three had disappeared the vortex slowly closed.

"Be careful…" Maggie whispered.

The journey through the vortex was as they had expected. Fast but smooth. Soon the exotic matter faded all around them as a bright light appeared from up ahead. The world appeared before them as Mallory landed out from the vortex first, lightly stepping onto the ground. Soon Wade appeared and Rembrandt followed closely behind, narrowly messing bumping into her.

"We're here." Said Mallory. "Slidology World…"

Wade looked around. "Now all we've got to do is find Mrs Mallory…"

Several hours later, Kromagg Prime…

"Ok, Quinn … give it a try now!" Shouted Michael.

Quinn nodded and once again powered up the newly built machine. The lights and flashes of the control panel appeared signalling that it was booting up. "Ok, it's powered up. Colin, try the transformers once more." 

Colin nodded and went over to the transformers. Flipping a switch the transformers that converted the power from the Compound's stand alone generators into the Dimensional Pathway Scanner turned on. "Great! It's working now!"

Quinn checked the control panel's screen. "Ok, looks like everything is set. You guys ready to lower the Slide Field?"

"We're ready." Answered Maggie. She turned to the Technician and nodding he entered a series of commands that would disable the Field. 

"The Slide Field is disabled." He informed.

Quinn typed in the commands into the Dimensional Pathway Scanner and then looked up. A stream of energy shot out from the machine and opened up a small silver blue dimensional distortion in the air right in front of it. A thin red beam then shout out afterwards and into the small vortex.

"All systems stable." Noted Diana. "The scan is in progress."

Colin turned to his parents. "How long before the Kromaggs realise that the Slide Field is down?"

"Half an hour … an hour tops maybe." Answered Amanda.

"That's too long." They all turned to Maggie. "We've got movement from the Kromagg Compound!" 

Quinn, Diana, Colin, Amanda, and Michael ran towards the view screen and to where Maggie was looking. "Ah oh…" Said Quinn. "Gliders, ground troops, heavy machinery … it's a full scale assault!" He turned to the others. "But that was way too quick for them to know that the field was down!"

"Maybe they don't know yet." Said Michael. "From the size of the force it looks like the vast majority from the Kromagg Compound. So they haven't got reinforcements yet."

"Then they somehow must know that something is up." Said Colin. 

"Are the defences powered up and in place?" Asked Quinn.

Maggie nodded. "Troops are standing by and the defence weapons are at the ready. We'll hold them off for as long as possible."

"Hey…" Diana suddenly realised. "Where are the others?"  
"They're … safe." Maggie saw their puzzled looks. "They just needed to take care of something. They'll be back as soon as they're done."

They all turned their attention back to the approaching Kromagg Unit. The final battle was about to begin…  


"Commander Kronith!"

Kronith turned as a Kromagg Communications Officer approached him. "We have a communiqué from our spy in the human Compound."

Nodding Kronith went over to the officer and picked up the communicator. "What have you to report?"

"I have great news…" The Technician's whispered in a low voice. "As the Mallory's begin their scans to find the Dimensional Nexus they have had to lower the Slide Field!"

Kronith's eyes lit up. "The Field … is down?"

"Yes."

"You have done well. Once the Kromagg Dynasty has retaken our world you will be heavily rewarded."

"Thank you, Kronith." The transmission ended.

He then turned to the officer. "Prepare a transmission back to base. Tell our superiors … tell them that the Field is down … reinforcements can immediately be called for!"

The officer nodded and after saluting he went to carry out the orders. Kronith smiled, showing his white, pointed teeth. Soon Kromagg Prime would be theirs again. And the humans would be crushed…

Slidology World…

Mallory, Wade, and Rembrandt ran out of the secluded alleyway and out into the street, a stream of screaming people running after them. They dodged their way in and out of the crowd, being dragged, touched, and pulled this way and that, as they headed for the waiting cab that was to take them to their destination. They dived in, slamming the doors shut behind them.

"Go?" Asked the driver.

"Go!" Replied Mallory.

Rembrandt just chuckled, in a fit of laughter. "Aha ha! I think I lost something back there."

Wade laughed. "I'm surprised we escaped that crowd with our lives!"

As the car pulled out from the screaming fans Mallory sighed and tried to catch his breath. "That was not pleasant."   
Rembrandt continued to laugh. "That's what you get when you're a Superstar."

"I know you would enjoy it!"

"Come on, you did too. The thrill of running from a screaming mob, the chase, knowing that one step wrong and you're dragged into a heap of screaming women!"

"Hmm… well when you put it like that…" He went to open the door.

"Hey!" Smiled Wade.

Mallory laughed. "I'm kidding!" He looked out of the window. "Well according to what we've found out: after we left here Claire and her goons were sent to jail while Mum, er, Mrs Mallory became an icon in herself and is living really well here."

Rembrandt nodded. "I'm glad that she is safe. We've got a lot to tell her. About getting Quinn back, finding Colin, and finally getting to Kromagg Prime."

"Not to mention the fact the Earth Prime is now free…"

It took a while but soon the group arrived towards the edge of town. They came to a stop outside a large house that looked more like a mansion.

"Wow!" Gasped Wade in awe. "This is where she lives?!"

"I guess she can have anything she wants here." Smiled Mallory.

The group got out of the cab and tried to pay the driver but he refused. "You kidding me?! It was my pleasure being able to unite the Sliders with Mrs Mallory! Safe journey!" With that he turned and drove away. 

Quickly getting off of the street and out of sight the group headed towards the building and rang the doorbell. It was not long before the door opened and a butler in a black suit answered. "Can I help…" He froze. "Y-you … you are the Sliders!" They just stared at him. "Please! Come in, come in!" As they entered the house he ran into an adjacent room. "I will inform Mrs Mallory of your presence right away!"

Wade continued to stare in awe at the interior of the building as the waited in the hall. Mallory was already touching the ornaments that lined the wall while Rembrandt peered into the various doors that were everywhere.

"Quinn? Rembrandt?" Mrs Mallory ran towards them.

"Mum!" Mallory rushed up and embraced her in a tight hug. 

"I'm glad that you are safe!"

"Me too. I knew that you would be ok but still…" He took a step back. "Just seeing you makes it all so real."

She nodded and turned to the others, her smile fading. "So I see that…"

"Quinn is fine." Smiled Wade. "We managed to separate them."

"You … did…" Her eyes lit up.

"He's back on Kromagg Prime. They're close to finding a way to stopping the Kromaggs."

She shook her head, trying to process all the information at once. "They're?"

"Yeah." Answered Rembrandt. "His brother Colin and the other Mallory's."

She smiled. "I'm glad that he finally made it there."  
"… He misses you." Mrs Mallory turned to Mallory. "He hasn't forgotten you… just been caught up in trying to get us all safely to Kromagg Prime." Turning Mallory activated the timer. "I know that you want to see him again too…"

Tears came to her eyes as she slowly nodded. Mallory reached out his hand and she took it. As the vortex fully formed they stepped through together. Wade and Rembrandt followed after.

Kromagg Prime…

Maggie and Quinn looked up as a silver green vortex suddenly opened up behind them. They rose the weapons that they were holding out in front of them and prepared for the worse. Two quick flashes in succession appeared and the two people appeared.

"… Mum!" Exclaimed Quinn.

"Quinn!" 

Mrs Mallory rushed up to her son and they embraced into a tight hug. They stood there like that for a long time. Soon Wade and Rembrandt appeared and the vortex slowly began to close. A sudden blast hit the Compound and they all fell to their feet.

"What's going on?" Screamed Wade.

"The Maggs are attacking!" Answered Maggie. The sound of several vortexes opening came to their senses. "They are calling for reinforcements from off world! The Slide Field had to be lowered in order to complete the scans!"

Diana checked the control panel. "We've almost got the entire co-ordinates for the Dimensional Nexus. But its still going to take some time to complete!"

Mrs Mallory looked up as her double and her husband entered the room. 

"We're glad that you are safe." Said Michael. Another explosion hit the Compound. "But there's no time for talk right now." They turned and ran over to the consoles. "How's the situation?"

"The manual defence lasers are not working for some reason." Said Quinn. "Colin is trying to locate the problem right now."

Colin hurried down the long corridor as he searched for the electrical panel that was connected to the defence lasers. He rounded a corner and looked up; a Technician was standing beside it, pulling out wires and destroying the circuitry. "Hey!"

The Technician looked up, and turned to run. Colin lifted up his weapon to stun the man but it hit the wall harmlessly and he continued down the corridor. The sound of a vortex opening filled the area. Colin ran to catch up with him but he had already disappeared into the gateway. 

"Quinn?"

Quinn turned to the communicator. "Go ahead, Colin."

"One of the Technicians was messing with the weapon's circuitry. Must have been a Kromagg collaborator!"

"Can you fix it?"

"I'll try. Colin out."

"Five more gliders have appeared through newly opened wormholes!" Stated Maggie. 

"The outer perimeter has been breached!" Shouted Diana. "Troops are going in to intercept."

Quinn went over to the control panel while Rembrandt, Wade, and Mallory helped the others to set up the canisters containing the synthesised virus. "Almost there." He said. "Just a few more minutes and we'll get the last of the co-ordinates."

The lights began to flicker and the power blacked out for a second. 

"We're running low on power." Said Amanda. "I don't think it will hold out until the process is complete!"

Wade looked up. "Then we need to get more power." She turned to Quinn. "What about connecting the transformers to power cables from another world?" 

"I think you're on to something Wade." Quinn thought for a moment. "The cables themselves wouldn't be able to reach through the vortex but if we just connect them to the outer rim of the gateway the power should travel along the exotic matter and out onto the other side. The transformers can easily be configured to collect that power."

"Then what are we waiting for?"  
"You'll need help with the connectors." Said Diana. "I'll configure the transformer on this end." A sudden thought then crossed her mind. "Kevin … Dr Kevin Lang … on the world that helped us to separate Quinn from Mallory … he'd be more than willing to help. They should be able to give us more than enough power to help finish the process!"

"I'll stay here and help Maggie." Said Mallory.

"Right." 

Michael stepped forward. "I'll transfer the co-ordinates from your timer into the new one." Mallory nodded and handed over the timer he still carried. Michael quickly went to complete the transfer.

The silver green vortex burst open and Quinn and Wade landed onto the parallel Earth. The vast futuristic city loomed ahead of them and they saw the strange platform that could transport matter. They headed for the structure, knowing that their arrival would have been detected, and watched in awe as Dr Kevin Lang appeared.

"Lang." Said Wade.

"Wade Welles, Quinn Mallory, it is great to see you two again." He looked around. "Is Diana with you?"

"Not right now, it's an emergency." 

Lang saw their expression and nodded. "Follow me. You can explain everything on the way."

Diana looked up as a vortex began to appear directly in front of her. The transformer had been configured and she moved the conductor cables towards the outer rim of the vortex. The vortex sudden ruptured and tripled in size as electric particles flowed through the exotic matter of the gateway and then into the conductors. The sudden surge of energy almost short-circuited the transformers but they managed to hold. The power converted and travelled into the Dimensional Pathway Scanner.

Colin ran into the room. "I've patched it up as best I can."

"Right." Maggie nodded to Mallory and they ran towards the manual weapons room.

"Almost…" Amanda checked the display. "Almost … there! We've got it! The Dimensional Nexus! Stabilising a direct pathway to it now!" The red beam faded and the intensity of the vortex changed causing it to grow in size.

Rembrandt lifted up a canister. "This is … for what you did to Earth Prime … and to Wade and I!" He threw the canister into the vortex.

Colin walked forward. "This is … for all the pain that you've caused…" He threw one in.

Amanda and Michael approached the vortex. "This is … for making us lose so many years with our sons … for not seeing them grow up and become the great men that they now are…" She threw the one she was holding into the vortex.

"This is for everyone that you have ever hurt, forced to breed with, and killed!" Michael threw his one. Nodding to the Technicians that were standing by they stepped forward and threw the remaining canisters into the vortex. He then turned to Diana. "All set."

"Ok … here goes!" Diana typed in a set of commands into the console. A bright red pulse suddenly shot out from the machine and entered the gateway. It travelled along the exotic matter of the wormhole and to the point in space-time, the Dimensional Nexus, where all pathways interconnected. The pulse hit the canisters … and they exploded. The explosion triggered a massive modified Slide Wave. 

Distortions began to rip through the dimensional fabric of parallel Earths and with it the Slide Wave propelled the virus onto the worlds. The virus quickly spread, out onto every dimension, the power from Dr Lang's power grid keeping it going. 

Colin looked up and pointed out of the window. Distortions began to appear on Kromagg Prime and the virus was being pumped out. The Kromagg soldiers on the ground suddenly looked up as they saw the wormholes and began to shake. The howling wind from the vortexes were blowing the gas towards them and soon they began to drop and shake on the floor. They were dying.

"You guys did it!" Shouted Mallory as Maggie and himself returned to the Control Room. "The Maggs are history!"

Colin smiled. "It's finally over."

'Dear Journal:

It has been almost three weeks now since the fall of the Kromaggs. There have been huge celebrations and much rejoicing as the humans finally get their world back. Kromagg Prime is theirs once more. Though now that name is just not fitting. Preparations went underway to get this world back into some semblance of normality but it will take a long time. The dead have to be buried. A new start has to be made. And eventually … eventually they will be able to move on.

And now it's our turn. Our time to make that transition. I have been trying not to think about it, spending as much time as I can with all my friends but now the hardest decision is going to be made. I already have an idea of how it is going to turn out. 

I think that only Rembrandt and I will return to Earth Prime. I know that Quinn will want to stay here, with his real parents and Colin. Maggie has always said that her place is with him. She'll stay also. Diana and Mallory will probably stay here a little while longer in the hopes of finding the co-ordinates to their world. Then they will return home. As for Mrs Mallory … I am not sure what she will do. She could return home to Earth Prime … or maybe she might return to the Slidology World.

I just don't know right now. It hurts to think that we are going to part … but at the same time is a joy to know that our journey is finally over. But I don't want to leave my friends. We've been through so much and come so far. They're all more than just friends … they're family…

Wade.'

Wade closed her journal and looked over at Quinn. As he saw her gaze he smiled, and she sighed. It was time. "Everyone…" All eyes turned to her. "Its time to say goodbye." She saw their pained expressions. "It's time to return to Earth Prime and find out if my family are alive and ok."

Rembrandt sighed. "Me too. And by now it should have mostly recovered from when we drove the Maggs out."

Quinn slowly nodded. He stood up and made his way over to the other side of the table. Wade stood up and then the two friends hugged each other, tight. "I'm gonna miss you, Wade…"

"I'm gonna miss you Quinn! Don't ever forget me, ok?" She cried.

"How could I ever?" He smiled and took a step back from her. "Why the tears? This isn't a goodbye, Wade. I'm going to slide and pay you a visit every week."

Wade laughed through the tears. "Me too."

"You can't get rid of us that easily." Smiled Maggie. "We'll be seeing you guys a lot." 

Wade smiled and then hugged Maggie. "Thanks, for everything."

"Good luck, Wade." 

Rembrandt turned to Quinn. "Gonna miss you Q-ball. Things won't be the same."

"You too, Remmy. Look out for Wade."

"I will."

Wade looked up as Mallory came up to her. "Take care Wade."

She hugged him. "Mallory … I hope you and Diana find your home soon."

"We will." Smiled Diana. "The Mallory's are going to help us search for it. And with the Kromagg Database now in our possession I'm sure they have it stored somewhere." She turned to Rembrandt. "Likewise, we will be paying you guys a visit a lot … we're not giving you a chance to forget us!"

Rembrandt smiled as he hugged her. "We'll be looking forward to it!" He turned to Colin. "Well Farm Boy … you've come a long way since I first met you…"

Colin smiled. "And you've grown on me to Rembrandt." They hugged.

Wade wiped the tears from her eyes. "It was great getting to know you a little Colin." She stepped forward and whispered in his ear. "Make sure Quinn asks her soon…" 

Colin nodded. "I'll make sure of it. You'll be the first we invite."

Wade sighed. She turned to Rembrandt and then to Mrs Mallory. "Mrs Mallory? Have you decided what you are going to do?"

She nodded. "There is nothing back there for me now. And I have been through so much…" She turned and smiled lovingly at Quinn. "I think I will return to Slidology World. It is peaceful there."

Quinn walked up to his mum and hugged her. "I will always think of you as my Mum…"

"And I will always think of you as my son…"

"I'll take you." Smiled Mallory. "Looks like Diana and I have some time to spare until we find our home co-ordinates."

"Safe journey Rembrandt, Wade." Said Amanda as she handed Rembrandt a timer. 

"Thank you." He turned to Wade. "Well girl, are you ready to return home?"

Wade smiled. "I am."

Pressing the button Rembrandt activated the timer and a silver green vortex appeared. They stopped. Hesitated for a while as they looked back at their friends. But they knew they would see them again soon. Turning they jumped into the gateway and the vortex slowly closed.

Mallory and Mrs Mallory then stepped forward and opened up another vortex. "See you in a while, Diana."

Diana nodded. "Goodbye Mrs Mallory.

Quinn waved goodbye to his mum, Maggie at his side.  
Mallory nodded to Mrs Mallory and together they disappeared into the vortex. As the vortex closed all the noise died down and there was silence. Colin walked forward and pulled Quinn, Maggie, Amanda, Michael, and himself into a hug. "So…" He smiled as he looked at Quinn and Maggie. "When's the wedding?"…

Kromagg Breeding Outpost 174…

He opened his eyes. Putting a hand to his head he tried to shake off the pain that he was feeling in his head. He looked human, but had pointed teeth, deep set eyes, and ridges that lined his forehead. The trainee officer stood up and checked around the room. He checked the pulses of the Kromaggs that littered the floor. Dead. All of them. Stepping through the door he noticed that other half Kromagg / half-Human hybrids were also getting to their senses.

"What happened?"…

End.

  


  



End file.
